Unexpected Desires
by BlueEyedPrincess01
Summary: AU. Lucas drags Haley to a party where she meets Nathan. Naturally, she hates him. But things heat up..a lot. Friendships and romances are tested, and things may never be the same between any of them again.
1. Chapter 1

I have this over at OTH Central but decided to put it on here since the thread is about to close soon and I'm nominated for a TWA. And they can't judge if the thread is closed so I figured I'd do this now. I hope you enjoy!   
  
Chapter 1  
  
Sunlight streamed through the windows and spilled across Haley James' face, giving her auburn tresses a radiant glow. She always hated how the sun repeatedly woke her up day after day. No matter how hard she tried to fall back asleep, she never could. It was a useless attempt.  
  
But considering that today was Saturday, she was extremely ticked off. All she wanted to do was sleep in. Didn't look like that was happening though, did it?  
  
She groaned and put her arm over her eyes in an attempt to block out the sun. No dice. 'Screw it.' She thought to herself, forcing her eyes open.  
  
"What the hell?" She sat up and noticed Lucas staring at her, sitting at the bottom of her bed. "Lucas, it's 8:00 in the morning."  
  
"I know that." He answered casually, still staying in the same spot.  
  
"Um in case you haven't noticed, I'm tired. And I'm trying to sleep."  
  
Lucas rolled his eyes and stood up. "No shit Sherlock. I've only been watching you for the past hour."  
  
"Um okay, why?" Haley ran her hands through her hair, hoping to smooth out any knots she had.  
  
"Because I wanted to know if you slept naked or not." He smirked, trying to peek under her covers.  
  
"Lucas!" Tucking the covers tightly underneath her, she smacked him with her pillow and laid back down. "So what are you really doing here so early?"  
  
"Well, there's this party tonight and...."  
  
"NO." Haley said urgently, sitting up once again. "You know I hate parties. I always wind up getting groped by dirty drunk guys who smell like puke."  
  
"Come on Haley, please? I don't want to go by myself!" Lucas gave her the infamous puppy dog eyes and she mumbled something incoherent under her breath.  
  
"And where does this party happen to be?"  
  
"Nathan Scott's beach house."  
  
Haley arched an eyebrow and got up to get her robe. "I don't even know him. Plus, you know I don't know anybody from your school. I'd feel like a complete outcast."  
  
She heard a bit about Nathan before from Lucas, but she had never met him. She wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to meet him either. He sounded arrogant, selfish, and like a downright jerk.  
  
Not to mention that she didn't even go to Tree Hill High. She went to a small private school a few miles away. She had heard about the people that went to THH. They were so judgmental and cocky. It surprised her that she was best friends with someone from there.  
  
Lucas got up and followed after her. "You know you wouldn't. I'd be with you the whole time. Please? For me?"  
  
She sighed and slipped her robe on, pulling her hair into a high ponytail. "You're lucky you're my best friend and I like you or else I'd go tell you to shove it up your ass."  
  
"Thanks, I love you too." Lucas said sarcastically.  
  
"Did you seriously have to come over this early though? I probably look like a beast right now." Haley walked down the stairs with Lucas in tow and began to pour herself a cup of coffee.  
  
"Yeah man and you smell like one too." He laughed, pretending to be grossed out. "When was the last time you bathed?"  
  
"Funny. Don't you remember? Your mom and I were in the mood to have some fun and-" She was stopped abruptly.  
  
"Okay enough. That's just wrong." He sat down next to her and began to play with a sugar packet. "So you promise you're not gonna bail on me tonight and make up some lame excuse so you don't have to go to this party?"  
  
"Yes, I promise." Haley took the sugar packet out of his hands and put it in her coffee. "But if I get bored or pissed..OR groped, we're leaving. Is that clear?"  
  
"Crystal." Lucas stood up from the table and put his jacket on. "I gotta go, my mom wants me to help her out at the cafe. I'll pick you up at 7:00?"  
  
"If you must." Haley sighed. "See ya later, Luke."  
  
Little did Haley know, this night was about to change the rest of her life. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Haley, it's not a beauty pageant, let's go!" Lucas screamed up the stairs as Haley groaned.  
  
"God Lucas, put a cork in it will ya? You wanted me to go to this party so you'll sit your ass down and wait until I'm ready, kapeash?"  
  
She heard no answer, and before she knew it, Lucas was bursting through her door and into her room.  
  
"Oh my FREAKING God put a shirt on!" He screamed, covering his eyes with his arm.  
  
"Well you were the one who came in here! I didn't ask you to! And you act like you've never seen me with my shirt off before."  
  
"You were in a bathing suit! That's different!" He whined, turning around while Haley put her shirt on. "Can I look now?"  
  
"Yes, I promise you won't turn to stone."  
  
Lucas turned around and looked at Haley, smiling. "Much better. You look hot, Hales."  
  
"Gee, thanks. And don't look at me like that you're freaking me out." She grabbed her purse off her bed and walked out of her bedroom. "Let's go, loser."

* * *

"Okay so why are we going to this party again?" Haley asked as they rounded the corner to Nathan's beach house.  
  
"Because I was invited . . . ."  
  
"Yeah but you and Nathan hate each other. Why would you wanna go?"  
  
"Because, Haley I'm not going to let him win. He wants a fight? A fight is what he's going to get." Lucas clutched the steering wheel tighter, biting his lip.  
  
Haley grumbled and fidgeted in her seat. "So basically, you're going to let him torment you at this party. I can't believe you, Lucas. You'd actually let him make a fool out of you in front of all those people?"  
  
"Whose side are you on anyway, huh?" He looked over at Haley, anger written all over his face.  
  
"Yours! Can we just please not fight about this and talk like the civil people I know we can be? I'm just trying to prove a point here. And from what you always tell me about Nathan, he's going to try and pull something."  
  
"Whatever, Haley. I just want to have fun." He turned into the driveway and shut off the engine.  
  
"Yeah well I just want to leave already." Haley opened the door and got out, slamming it behind her.  
  
"No you don't. We came here to have fun."  
  
"Correction. YOU came here to have fun. Or to get laid. Either one. I just came here because I was forced to. There's a difference." She trudged up the stairs of the deck with Lucas leading the way.  
  
Lucas turned around and crossed his arms over his chest. "If you're going to be miserable the whole night maybe you should just go wait in the car."  
  
"Well I would but who knows what random chick will be in the back seat with you!"  
  
Lucas laughed as Haley's eyes widened. "You are such a drama queen, Hales."  
  
She gasped, her mouth hung open in an effort to look more upset than she really was. "I am not!" She playful slapped him on the shoulder and pushed him up the remainder of the stairs. "Let's just go in and I'll pretend like I'm having fun."  
  
Lucas opened the sliding glass door for her and they walked into the house. "That's all I ask."

* * *

"Our target is here." Tim snickered, elbowing Nathan in the arm. Lucas had walked into the room and Nathan could already feel his temperature rising. He didn't think he'd actually show. Was the guy stupid? Well apparently yeah..  
  
He smirked and walked over to Lucas, standing in front of him. "So, you decided to come. Didn't think you would."  
  
"Yeah, you wish." He turned around to Haley. "I'm gonna go get a drink. Don't go anywhere, okay?"  
  
Haley nodded as she watched Lucas leave her..alone...with Nathan.  
  
"I'm Nathan Scott, and you are?" He held out his hand to shake it but Haley looked down at it like it was poison.  
  
"Not interested." She said in a cocky tone, as she began to walk away in search of Lucas.  
  
"Hey!" He said confused. Nobody had ever done that to him before. He followed after her, stepping in front of her in an attempt to get her to stop walking. And it worked.  
  
"What are you doing?" She asked in an angry tone, looking him up and down.  
  
"Um, I'm trying to stop you."  
  
"Well go away, I have to find Lucas." She tried to start walking again but he stepped in front of her.  
  
"Why can't you just tell me your name?" He was getting annoyed. Yet, this girl intrigued him. She was almost mysterious in a way.  
  
"Because there's no reason for you to know it. Now can you please move?" What was this guy's problem? Was he dense? She didn't want to talk to him. He was definitely an asshole like Lucas had said. And Lucas! He should have been back by now!  
  
"Nope sorry, can't do that." He smirked, and put his hands on his hips. He wasn't going to budge.  
  
"What the hell is your problem!" Haley was seething. She was so not in the mood for this. It was bad enough she didn't even want to be at the party but what made it even worse was that this Nathan guy was grating on her last nerves.  
  
"What's yours?" He asked calmly, getting a kick out of how flustered she was.  
  
"YOU! You're my problem!"  
  
"Well if you'd just tell me your name then I'd leave you alone."  
  
Haley rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. "Fine, my name is Haley. Now can you please leave me alone? You're pissing me off."  
  
"Yup." Nathan stepped aside and watched as she trudged away. "I'll talk to you later!" He screamed.  
  
"Not likely!" She screamed back, and Nathan saw her dissapear into the crowd.  
  
He was definitely going to talk to this girl again...whether she liked it or not. 


	3. Chapter 3

Haley stomped away from Nathan and into the kitchen to find Lucas talking to a girl.  
  
"What the hell, Lucas!" She yelled, walking up to him and slapping his arm.  
  
"Ow! What was that for?" Lucas rubbed his arm and then looked over at the girl next to him who had a confused expression on her face.  
  
"You left me with him!"  
  
"With who?"  
  
"Who do you think? Nathan!" She was already pissed. This was just making it worse.  
  
"So you've met Nathan, huh? I'm sorry Hales, I didn't think he'd talk to you..or bother you. I came in here to get a drink and then I started talking to Brooke." He managed to choke out in one breath, breathing in deeply after he was finished.  
  
The girl waved to Haley, trying to break the ice. "I'm Brooke."  
  
"Charmed." Haley said sarcastically. "Whatever, just when you're done pimping yourself..I'll be out on the deck." She turned around to go outside.  
  
"Haley!" Lucas screamed to her, catching up behind her. "Look, I'm sorry. Do you want me to take you home?"  
  
Haley turned around and narrowed her eyes. "No Luke, I don't." She took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. "Just go and have fun alright? I'll find something to do."  
  
Lucas didn't hesitate a second and lit up the moment she said he could go. "Alright then, see ya."  
  
Haley held her mouth open in disbelief. "A$$hole!"  
  
"What, what did I do? You said I coud go!"  
  
"If you weren't such a moron you'd know that I really DON'T want you to go. It's simple girl language, Lucas it's not that hard."  
  
"Fine then, You want me to stay?" He was starting to get annoyed, Haley could tell.  
  
"No!"  
  
"But you just said you wanted me to!" He put his hands up to his head and started pulling on his hair. What the hell was wrong with her tonight?  
  
"Well I changed my mind!"  
  
"What are you on tonight, crack??!" He asked, wondering why she was being so flighty.  
  
"I'm not on anything, Lucas! You take me to this party, where I know absolutely nobody, then leave me where I'm stuck trying to defend myself against your jolly green giant brother!" She screamed, remembering how tall the kid was compared to her.  
  
"DON'T call him that."  
  
"Whatever. Look, like I said. I'll be outside. When you're done being a man whore, come get me." She turned on her heel and threw open the sliding glass door, causing the people in the room to turn and look at her. "Show's over people." She growled before slamming the door shut and plopping down on a bench.

* * *

This sucked. Was she overreacting? Hmm, probably. But she hated being at this party. She hated the people AT this party, and most of all, she hated Lucas right now. He totally dissed her for some brunette bimbo named Brooke. What made it worse was that Haley didn't know a single person at this party! She went to a different school for crying out loud!  
  
"That was some show in there.." She heard a voice say behind her, and she could immediately tell who it was.  
  
Haley didn't even bother to turn around. "What do you want now?"  
  
She heard footsteps and then, as she expected, saw Nathan in front of her. "Why are you so cocky?"  
  
"Why are you so self-righteous?"  
  
He snickered and leaned up against the deck railing, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because I can be."  
  
"Right." Haley said, rolling her eyes. Nathan didn't say anything back. He just stared at her. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."  
  
Nathan smirked and reached into his pocket. "Good idea." He pulled his cell phone out and snapped a picture. "I guess camera phones do come in handy, huh?"  
  
"Whatever. Don't think for one second I find you amusing."  
  
"Has anyone ever told you you're a bitch?" Nathan asked, sitting down next to her.  
  
"Seems that I'm only a bitch to people I don't like. And oh damn look at that, I guess that means I don't like you." She smiled fakely at him and looked straight ahead, hoping he'd go away.  
  
"You don't even know me. How could you say you don't like me?"  
  
"Because I know of you. I may not personally know you, but I know the things you do and say, and the way you act. Trust me, It wasn't that hard for me not to like you."  
  
Nathan nodded and then turned to face her. "Is this about Lucas?"  
  
"No idiot, it's about my grandmother. Yes it's about Lucas." Haley stood up and walked over to the railing, resting her elbows on the splintery wood. "I know why you invited him here. To torture him and to get your kicks."  
  
Nathan sighed and walked next to her. "You're right. That is why I invited him."  
  
Haley turned her head to face him. 'Why? He's never done anything to you. I don't see why you can't just get your head out of your ass and leave him alone."  
  
"Because there's just too much sh!t between us. If I leave him alone, it's like me saying that he wins."  
  
"No it's like you saying you're no longer a jerk off with an overgrown ego." There was absolutely no getting through to this guy.  
  
"Why are you defending him? He pissed you off in there and you're kissing his a$$, trying to get me to lay off him."  
  
"Because he's my best friend. Just because he pisses me off doesn't mean I still don't care for him." Haley's patience was wearing thin..thin to the point where she just wanted to go home.  
  
"So is that why you're here?"  
  
Haley ran her hand through her hair, but the wind just refused to quit whipping it around her face. "I don't even know why I'm here. I don't know you people. I live a totally different life than you do."  
  
"Doesn't mean you couldn't be nice." Nathan looked over at her, and saw her jaw clench.  
  
Haley looked back at him. "Doesn't mean you couldn't either."  
  
"You just don't understand." He began to walk down the stairs and onto the beach, not caring if she answered.  
  
As she saw him walk further, she looked up at the sky and rolled her eyes. "Why must you curse me??" She asked, to nobody in particular. Quickly, she ran to catch up with him. "I do understand."  
  
Nathan turned around and was a bit surprised when he saw her standing there. He didn't think she'd follow him.  
  
"I've known Lucas since I was a baby. If anything, it's him that got the shit end of the deal. Do you understand how bad he just wanted your father to accept him? To just once admit that he had another son besides you?"  
  
Nathan was beginning to get angry. "Look, I don't need you telling me what an asshole I am, alright? I get that enough from everyone else. And I definitely don't need you to make me feel pity for Lucas. As far as I'm concerned, him and I will always be at each others throats."  
  
Haley shook her head and looked down at the ground. "It's only because you make it that way."  
  
"Right. You act like you've known me for so damn long and that I'm such a horrible person. Well let me tell you something, as much as Lucas has said about me, you know nothing, okay? You don't know shit about me."  
  
Looking up from her spot on the ground, Haley furrowed her brow and moved a bit closer to him. "You know what? You're right. I don't. And at this present point in time, I don't really care. So thank you for being such a jackass to my best friend and I. We just appreciate it so much."  
  
Haley then shot Nathan a look of disgust and walked back up to the house, leaving him angry and alone..yet extremely intrigued. 


	4. Chapter 4

Haley trudged up the deck stairs and back into the living room in search of Lucas. "Lucas!" She yelled, weaving through a sea of drunken and drugged up losers.  
  
She finally found him in the same spot where she had left him..not only with Brooke but with another girl as well. All three were obviously drunk and about ready to practically get it on in the middle of the floor.  
  
Haley scoffed and shook her head, going over to the three people. "Lucas, I thought you said you would lay off the heavy booze. You have to drive home tonight you know."  
  
Lucas' head rolled to the side as he draped his arms over the two girls. "I know, come on then let's go. Brooke and Peyton can come with us."  
  
"No way! There's no way I'm getting in that car. Look at you, you can't even walk straight!"  
  
Lucas looked down at his feet and then back up at Haley. "Yeah I can! Watch!" He began to walk but then tripped over his shoe lace, causing him to hit the floor face down. "Ouch."  
  
"See what I mean?! I told you!" Haley tapped her foot on the ground as the two girls attempted to pick Lucas up...but they wound up falling down with him too. So now there were three drunken idiots on the floor and a very pissed off Haley.  
  
"Okay Haley." Lucas said, his voice muffled because he was basically talking to the floor. He couldn't find the strength to lift his head up. Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he threw them at her. "Go start the car up and drive us home."  
  
Haley threw the keys back at him. "Are you kidding me? I can't drive! I don't even have my license!"  
  
"So what, you won't get caught." Lucas hiccupped and groaned, causing the two girls lying next to him to giggle and smack him on the a$$.  
  
"I've never driven a car in my life! And I don't plan to get pulled over and then have the cops find out there are three drunk people in there with me!" Haley was going to continue but realized that her hammered best friend wasn't putting up a fight. "Lucas, are you listening to me!" She bent down to look at his face and found him asleep. "Great, you decide to get trashed and pass out on me at the house of your evil brother. Just perfect."  
  
Not believing the circumstances she was in, she thought of any way she could get home. She couldn't call her mother. What would she tell her? 'Hi mom, I'm at a party with a whole bunch of booze and drugs. Wanna come pick me up?' That definitely wouldn't work. She couldn't take Lucas' car now especially since he was asleep. She wouldn't trust herself driving it anyway. The cab service was on strike, and if she called Lucas' mom, she'd find out he'd been drinking.  
  
She mumbled to herself and stepped over Lucas' sleeping form on the floor, reaching for an empty cup and a bottle of vodka. "If you can't beat em, join em." She said to herself, chugging the contents of the cup and pouring herself some more.

* * *

Nathan sat out on the beach for a bit longer and decided it would be best to go inside. The wind was picking up and the sand was beginning to get into his eyes, which wasn't exactly something pleasant.  
  
He walked into the house and grabbed another beer, going over to Tim and a few other guys who were sitting in a group around the kitchen counter.  
  
"Hey Nate, where the hell have you been? The keg's almost empty!" Tim shouted, slapping his hand on the table.  
  
"Busy." Was all Nathan said back to him, as he took a sip of his beer.  
  
"Well thanks for being so informative, bud." Tim looked around and stared at something on the ground in the next room. "Well lookie what we got there. The bastard passed out! What about the sh!t we were gonna do to him tonight?!"  
  
Nathan rubbed his hand against his forehead. "I don't care, Tim. I have a nice buzz goin' on here, and I don't want it to be ruined by bringing up the dude's name, alright?" He had already heard enough of it from that girl. Haley..whatever her name was. He didn't need to hear it again throughout the remainder of the night.  
  
"Wait, is that..Peyton and Brooke passed out next to him?!?" Tim laughed, lifting himself up from his seat, as the other guys did as well. "He's mackin' on your ex, Nate!"  
  
"Tim, drop it, okay? I. DON'T. CARE." Nathan was about ready to slap him when he heard his cell phone ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and groaned, sitting it down on the counter.  
  
"Aren't you gonna answer that?" Tim asked, leaning over to see whose number showed up.  
  
"I don't plan to. It's my dad. Do you honestly think I wanna talk to the guy right now?" He held up his beer as to show Tim that he was a bit on the tipsy side.  
  
"Fine then. I'll answer it." Tim picked up the phone off the counter.  
  
"What are you doing! Give that back!" Nathan reached for it but missed.  
  
"Hello?" Tim said, waiting for a response on the other line. "Mr. Scott! Dan the man! How the helll are ya, dude?"  
  
Nathan's eyes bugged out of his head as he heard the way Tim was speaking to his dad. The guy was going to automatically tell there was a party going on by the amount of noise in the place. Not to mention the way Tim was acting. He was so smashed...he was talking like a moron.  
  
"Party? No way man, why would you think that! Oh that Nate..he has one of those..um...cd's that are supposed to make you go to sleep. Ya know, sounds of the rain forest, sounds of the storm..sounds of the trailer park. Well this one is sounds of the all night kegger down at the beach house. It's really great, you should buy it!"  
  
Nathan put his head in his hands. He was going to kill Tim. Literally strangle him and leave him out as road kill...if his dad didn't get to him first.  
  
"You wanna talk to him?" Tim looked over at Nathan, who was shaking his head no. "Uh yeah, he's on the crapper right now. He ate some nasty burritos. Montezuma's revenge or something like that. Alright yeah, I'll tell him you called. Later pops." Tim hung up the phone and Nathan glared at him.  
  
"Montezuma's revenge? Tim, you get that when you go to Mexico and drink the water, you dumbass!" Nathan smacked the back of his head.  
  
"Ow! Well it got him off the phone, didn't it!"  
  
"Yeah, probably to come down here and kick my a$$." Nathan took another sip of his beer to try and calm his nerves. The drunker he could get, the better he would be at forgetting about his dad.  
  
He was about to go get a shot of vodka when he heard Tim call his name while still looking at his phone. "Holy shit, Nathan! Who is this chick?!?"  
  
Nathan tried to pull the cell phone out of Tim's hand but he couldn't get his grasp on it. "It's nobody."  
  
"Well, that nobody is freaking hot. What's her name? Is she here? Can I talk to her? Hell, can I bone her?"  
  
"No dumbass, you can't." He pulled the phone as hard as he could out of Tim's hand and stuffed it back into his pocket. "How'd you find that anyway?"  
  
"I don't know, I pressed a button and it popped up. Dude, she is so fine." Nathan got up to go to the refrigerator and Tim followed him.  
  
"Yeah, too bad she's a bitch." He mumbled, getting out a new bottle vodka.  
  
"I like bitches, Nate! Hook me up with her, please?" Tim begged, grabbing Nathan's shoulder.  
  
"NO! Now forget about her, she isn't worth it." Nathan closed the refrigerator door and went back to his seat, trying to block out Tim's excessive begging.  
  
He didn't want to hook Haley and him up. For one, she wouldn't go for Tim anyway. He defintely wasn't her type. He also didn't know why he was getting so mad about the guy asking though. Haley wasn't Nathan's property. He didn't even know her. He didn't even like her. Like he said, she was a bitch.  
  
At least that's what he kept trying to convince himself.

* * *

Eight hours later, the party was well over, but the remnants of the night before still remained. Half empty liquor bottles were scattered accross the kitchen and living room floor, leaving drip trails from where they toppled over. Food lined the counter tops, spilling onto the floor and trailed out onto the deck. Articles of clothing were thrown on the couch and hung over the deck railing. The place was a downright mess.  
  
Haley groaned as she rolled over on her side, not liking the immdeiate feeling she got once she tried to open her eyes. To put it more bluntly, she couldn't..nor did she want to. She knew she had drank too much the night before, and could have killed herself for doing so. It wasn't like her to do that, especially since she should have been home studying last night instead of out partying.  
  
Pulling her arm over her face, she tried to block out the sun and gently open her eyes. Once she finally adjusted to the bright light, she scanned her surroundings. They weren't the least bit familiar. The walls were a shade of dark blue, with numerous posters and basketball jerseys, the floor was lined with a plush white carpet..and the comforter was made of soft down, with a dark blue color to match the walls. Then it hit her. She wasn't in her room..she wasn't in Lucas' room. Afraid of what to think next, she looked over to her side and saw Nathan sleeping next to her. Oh God tell me this isn't happening, she thought to herself amidst her panicking. Without thinking twice, she let out a scream that could be heard from a mile away. 


	5. Chapter 5

Nathan's eyes flew open at the sound of Haley's screaming and he quickly sat up, cupping his forehead in his hand. He had a hangover from hell.  
  
Haley screamed again once she saw him sit up and backed away quickly, her eyes darting back and forth. "What the hell am I doing here?!" She screamed angrily.  
  
Nathan squinted. He wasn't up for this type of loud screaming in the morning. It wasn't even 12:00 yet and he was awake. "Um because I...put you there?"  
  
"What?! Why!" She had no idea why she was still in this guy's house, let alone in his bed.  
  
"You passed out on the floor."  
  
"Why didn't you just leave me there?!"  
  
"People were tripping all over you! And let me tell you, none of those people were exactly sober. Including you.." Nathan looked at her face. He couldn't tell whether she was more angry or petrified.  
  
"So, you couldn't put me on the couch, or in one of the 80 guestrooms you have in this place??" She ran her hands quickly through her hair and glared at him.  
  
"Someone barfed on it." Haley gave a disgusted look then replaced her gaze with the usual icy cold one. "Plus, the guestrooms were already occupied if you know what I mean."  
  
"Ew okay, gross." She was about to get out of bed when something hit her. The guy sitting accross from her didn't have a shirt on. He was covered up from his waist down so she couldn't see what was going on under there and frankly, she didn't want to see. She was so upset about being in the same bed with him that she didn't look at herself to see if she was in the buff. Cautiously looking down, she saw a black shirt on her with the word RAVENS in royal blue, with her jeans from the night before, "What am I doing with this on?!"  
  
"I put it on you."  
  
"So you molested me too? God, what the hell is wrong with you, reject!" She got up and hurried around the room, trying to find her shoes.  
  
"Oh please, it wasn't like that. You spilled vodka all over yourself. I wasn't going to let you stay like that." Nathan reached under the bed and pulled out Haley's shoes.  
  
Yanking them out of his hand, she sat on the floor and put them on. "So great, now you saw me naked!"  
  
"No, I only saw your bra. Which by the way I found very sexy-"  
  
Haley glared at him and he shut his mouth. "So if I'm here, where is Lucas?"  
  
Nathan got up from his spot on the bed and went to his drawer, taking out a t shirt and pulling it over his head. "Brooke called. She took him to her house. It's down the street."  
  
Haley couldn't believe it. Her own best friend didn't care about her well- being. Because if he did, he sure as hell wouldn't have left her with Nathan. That's for damn sure. "So he left me here...alone...with you!"  
  
Shrugging his shoulders, Nathan closed the drawer and walked out of the room. "Guess so."  
  
"Where are you going!" She quickly tied her shoelace and got up, following him down the hall. "I'm not done with you yet!"  
  
She walked into the bathroom with him and watched as he pulled out two wash clothes. "You know, a thank you would be nice."  
  
Taking the wash cloth from Nathan's hand, she ran it under the warm water. "What, thank you for molesting me in my sleep?"  
  
"I told you it wasn't like that." He too ran the wash cloth under the warm water and pressed it to his face, trying to releive the tension growing in his head. This girl wasn't making it any easier for him to do that.  
  
"Okay, so what were you doing in bed with me then, huh?"  
  
Nathan removed the wash cloth from his face and stared at her. "Haven't you ever heard not to leave a drunk person asleep by themselves?" Haley nodded. "I wanted to make sure you were okay and you didn't like..die or something."  
  
"Well thanks for your concern." She said sarcastically, pressing the cloth to her face and rinsing it out after she was finished. "You got any Tylenol in this place?"  
  
Nathan chuckled and walked out of the room. "Do we have Tylenol..please, I live off of that stuff on the weekends."  
  
They reached the kitchen and Haley looked around. "Well this is a pretty picture." The place was a mess. A big, gross, disgusting mess to be exact. "Your parents just let you throw parties like this and don't care if the house gets trashed?"  
  
Nathan went into the kitchen cabinet and pulled out a bottle of pills. Shaking it to make sure it wasn't empty, he threw the bottle at Haley and filled up a glass of water. "My mom's always away on business trips. She doesn't care what I do. I don't even think she knows half the things I do anyway." He handed Haley the water and she stuck the pills in her mouth, chugging down the whole glass.  
  
"And your dad?"  
  
He scoffed and popped two pills into his mouth, swallowing them as quickly as he could. "As long as I'm out of his hair, he doesn't really give a damn. The house can be cleaned."  
  
Haley looked around, "Yeah and what a chore that's gonna be." Nathan smiled. "You need some help?"  
  
He raised his eyebrow in shock, the creases in his forehead becoming visable. "You wanna help me.."  
  
"Well you're not going to be able to get this place cleaned up by yourself. Might as well make myself useful, right?" Haley grabbed a small trash can and began to stuff random bottles of liquor into it.  
  
"Yeah." This girl seemed to do a major 360. She was being nice to him now? "So does this mean we're cool now?"  
  
Haley set the trashcan down. "I wouldn't go that far. Just think of it as a thank you gesture."  
  
Nathan smiled. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all. 


	6. Chapter 6

Three hours later, the house was pretty much back to the way it was before the party...give or take a few broken items that could easily be replaced without hesitation.  
  
"Wow." Nathan said, walking out into the living room and looking around. "You would have never been able to tell there was a party here last night."  
  
Haley walked next to him and surveyed the room. "Well yeah, besides the big barf stain on the couch." She pointed in the direction of the stained, white material and wrinkled her nose. "Hope you don't mind, but that's where my kind thank you gesture comes to an end. Cleaning up bodily fluids is not part of the package."  
  
Nathan laughed and gave the couch a look of disgust. "I don't even want to think about how I'm going to clean that. I guess next time I'll have to put buckets around the house, that way people won't have to spew on the furniture."  
  
Nodding her head, Haley crossed her arms over her chest. "Or just less liquor.."  
  
"No way." He smiled and walked back upstairs, lying down on his bed and flipping on the television.  
  
Haley didn't really know what to do, so she followed after him. She wasn't going to stay downstairs all by herself and since he didn't protest to her following up the stairs, she figured it was alright. "Why are you so mellow today?" She asked, sitting down next to him.  
  
He looked over at her and raised an eyebrow; those wrinkles in his forehead that she quickly found so adorable became visible once again. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Well yesterday you were..I don't know, feisty. Today you act as if you've known me since forever. You're really calm or something."  
  
Nathan shrugged his shoulders and flipped the channel to ESPN. Noticing that nothing good was on, he clicked the off button and threw the remote next to him. "I guess I feel comfortable around you, that's all."  
  
Haley's brow furrowed. "Why though? I was such a bitch to you last night."  
  
"Let's just say...I understand you." He replied nonchalantly, grabbing the small hand held basketball next to him and throwing it up in the air.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
He stopped throwing the ball and set it back down in its original place. "You put up a front, Haley."  
  
"I do not! And that's a little rude to say to me considering-"  
  
"Considering I don't even know you?" Haley nodded. "Just let me finish before you get all defensive on me." Nathan rolled over on his side to face her, propping his head up with his hand. "You already had this strong hate towards me before we even met, because of what Lucas told you. So when you actually did finally meet me, you put up this facade."  
  
"That's not true." She replied, getting a bit flustered.  
  
"Oh yeah? Then why are you still here with me?" Haley shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the bed, tracing her fingers around the pattern of the stitching. "Exactly."  
  
She was beginning to get even angrier. How dare he act like he knows her...like he can figure her out. Because truth was, he couldn't. She wouldn't let him. There was no way she was going to become this guy's friend just because he helped her out a little bit last night. Haley looked up at him. "You're the one who puts up the front."  
  
"You don't know me." Nathan spat back, mocking her earlier statement.  
  
"No, but I don't get it. You met me last night, yet you act so different around me. You're such an ass to anyone else but to me, you're calm..nice in a way, I guess."  
  
"Because you're not like them." He answered simply, scanning her face for any type of reaction.  
  
"How would you know?" The cold response she gave him was forced in a way, but not entirely. Nathan barely knew her. There was no way he could possibly determine that she wasn't like everyone else that he associated with.  
  
"You're not fake."  
  
She looked into his eyes, trying to figure him out. She wasn't able to. "But you just told me I put up a front."  
  
"Yeah, you do. But it's different from everyone else."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
He sighed and sat up, facing her. "People suck up to me. That's what I mean."  
  
Haley furrowed her brow once again. "Okay..?"  
  
"They're nice to me because I'm popular and I throw parties. I'm sure if I wasn't on the basketball team and didn't do half the sh!t that I normally do, they wouldn't give me the time of day." Haley nodded, fully agreeing to what he was saying but not muttering a word. "But you," He pointed to her and she tensed up. "You put up this front not to like me."  
  
"Conceited much?" She spat out, getting off the bed.  
  
Nathan grabbed her wrist before she could leave and pulled her back. She resumed her original position on the bed. "I don't mean it like that."  
  
"Then what do you mean? Because I'm pretty sure I just plain don't like you."  
  
"I can see through you, Haley. You're not who you want me to think you are." He leaned forward and to his surprise, she didn't pull away. Their lips were mere inches apart, and Haley could feel his breath on her face. "And you know it."  
  
What was she supposed to do? It was obvious he was going to kiss her. Did she want him to kiss her? No..yes...she didn't know. It was confusing. Her brain was like static. But the truth was, he was right. It was a front, a wall that she put up. But she couldn't admit that. Especially not to him.  
  
As he leaned forward a bit more, and they became even more dangerously closer, she turned her head to the side before his lips could meet hers. "I think I should go." She whispered, before lifting herself off the bed and walking out of the room. 


	7. Chapter 7

The car ride to Haley's house was silent. She had originally planned to walk home, but seeing as how it was pouring out, she opted to let Nathan drive her.  
  
It took him a while to convince her, but eventually she caved. It's not like she wanted to walk home in the rain anyway. She would have surely caught pneumonia if she had.  
  
Watching the rain fall down her window, Haley peered up into the sky. Gray. She hated that color..mainly because it felt like her life was exactly like it. Why couldn't she just let loose once in a while and stop putting up that insane barrier? She wasn't saying that she wanted to be Nathan's friend..especially not after what he did to Lucas, but she did at least want to be nice. Her brain wasn't letting her do that though. Everything he said, she had a nasty remark to bite back with.  
  
Haley figured it was probably for the best though. Nothing good would ever come out of being nice to this guy, let alone being close or even friends with him. She had all the friends she needed at school, and she had Lucas- her best friend in the world. That's all she required. But why was it that she still felt empty? She didn't know the answer to that question.  
  
Teetering on the brink of complete boredom, Nathan cut into the thick silence. "What are you thinking?" She was way too quiet. He didn't know if she was always like this or if it was just because of what happened earlier.  
  
Haley still peered out the window, watching the houses pass by. Why the hell did she have to live so far across town? "I'm just wondering why you have to listen to this shitty rap music." Quickly, she reached over to the radio and turned it off.  
  
"You did not just touch my radio."  
  
"It was giving me a headache. Why couldn't you be into pop music?"  
  
He looked over at her and laughed. "You like pop music?"  
  
"No, but it's better than listening to rap." She let out a slight laugh and turned her attention back to the side window. They were getting closer to her home, and she couldn't feel any more relieved.  
  
The car returned back to silence for the next five minutes until Nathan spoke up again. "So why don't you go to my school?"  
  
Haley looked over at him and scoffed. 'Your school? You talk like you own it." Nathan gave her a look and she sighed. "I've been going to Catholic school my whole life. My parents have this thing where they don't trust me going to public school. They think I'll get into drugs or pregnant or something, I don't know." She waved off her parents' ignorant assumptions and continued. "I like where I go to school though..even if Lucas isn't there." She saw Nathan flinch when she mentioned the name. "Sorry. I didn't mean-"  
  
"It's alright. I should be used to it by now, I guess."  
  
"Yeah." She whispered, looking down at her hands. There was that uncomfortable silence again. Although this time, it didn't seem to be because of him. It was her.  
  
She was never one to keep up good conversation around boys besides Lucas. Nathan wasn't exactly her favorite person so really the only conversation she could keep with him would be an angry one.  
  
"Look Haley, about earlier.."  
  
"Let's not talk about it, alright?" She stared over at his profile. He couldn't look at her. Or maybe he just wouldn't. She didn't exactly know how this guy worked. "It was stupid." Nothing even happened. She wouldn't let it. Even if he had tried to kiss her a million times, each and every time he would, she'd find some way to dodge it. She wasn't going to give in to him like every other girl did. She wasn't going to be another notch on his bedpost. She hated him. It was going to stay that way.  
  
"Was it?" He turned and looked at her. All she could do was stare back. Of course it was stupid. _Say it Haley, say yes. Why can't you just open your mouth and say yes. Any other time you need to say something bitchy to this guy, it's no problem. So what's wrong with you now?  
_  
She looked away. "This is my house."  
  
Nathan pulled the car over and shut off the engine. "Thanks for helping me clean up."  
  
Haley nodded. "No problem." She unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door handle, but something made her turn back around. "Thanks for taking care of me last night, Nathan."  
  
"You're actually thanking me?" He asked, surprised.  
  
She smiled and looked down at her hands. "Nobody else would have done that."  
  
"Well look who's being nice." Nathan joked, which received a playful slap on the shoulder from Haley.  
  
"I'm just saying..I wasn't exactly the friendliest person last night. So, thanks for putting up with my bullshit." She smiled once more before she got out of the car and ran up the driveway, trying her best to get out of the rain.  
  
Nathan didn't answer her back. He watched as she ran into the house and sat back in his seat. What was this girl doing to him? He let a grin creep onto his lips and drove off. 


	8. Chapter 8

Haley quickly closed the door behind her and peered out the window, her hand resting on the cool glass, watching as Nathan drove out of sight. For a reason unbeknown to even her, she smiled...again. She couldn't recall a time where she had smiled that much in the time span of a few minutes, but it was infectious.  
  
Taking her jacket off and hanging it in a nearby closet, she walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water.  
  
She stopped abruptly at the sight in front of her. "Mom, dad? What are you doing home so early? I thought you guys were gone for the weekend."  
  
Mrs. James..or Rose as most people would normally call her, stood up and held out her arms, enveloping her daughter in a hug. "Haley, you're all wet." She stated, taking all of her daughter's wet hair and squeezing it out onto the floor. "North Carolina rain is definitely something you don't want to get caught in. I'll tell you one time when I was your age-"  
  
"Mom, stop changing the subject." Rose sighed and looked sadly at her daughter, and then over at her husband, Robert.  
  
"Sit down, princess." Robert said softly, patting the seat next to him.  
  
Haley did as she was told and looked at both of her parents. They had that look. The same look they always get when something bad has happened..or when something bad is going to happen. She wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to hear what that was.  
  
"Well sweetie, as you know, your father was on a business trip this weekend and I decided to go with him." Rose started.  
  
"Uh apparently yeah, considering you haven't been home for the past three days."  
  
"Haley, don't get smart." Her father said sternly.  
  
Haley looked down at her hands. "Sorry."  
  
"Like I was saying." Rose continued, "We went on this business trip and we have some bad news." She was being hesitant, and Haley didn't like that one bit. "Robert I can't tell her. You tell her."  
  
"Tell me what?" She looked at both of her parents who didn't say a word. "TELL ME WHAT?" Haley was beginning to get annoyed. She just wanted them to spit it out. "Will you please just tell me?"  
  
"I lost my job." Her father stated quickly, looking down at the wooden table.  
  
"Tell me you didn't just say that." Haley peered over at him, and how the table was still the only thing he was staring at. She then looked over at her mother. "Mom?"  
  
"I'm sorry Haley, but it's true." She cupped Haley's hands in hers and rubbed her thumbs over her knuckles. "We um, we figured we'd tell you because there's something else."  
  
Haley nodded her head, her breath catching in her throat. This obviously wasn't good. She could feel it. It was lingering in the air and could be cut like a knife. The tension was practically strangling her.  
  
"Since your father is the one who brings in the largest income, we depend on his money intake for a lot of things." She stopped for a moment and Haley nodded once again.  
  
"Okay, so what do I have to give up? My phone line, my cable TV, my internet, it's alright mom, we'll just have to work with it until he gets a new job."  
  
Rose shook her head and bit her lip. "No sweetie, it's not as easy as that."  
  
Haley's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"  
  
Sighing, Rose squeezed her hand and nervously shuffled her feet underneath the table. "One of the main things your father's income pays for is your tuition." She looked over at Robert and then back at Haley. "I'm so sorry, Haley but we're going to have to send you to public school."  
  
Haley abruptly stood up from the table. "What? No, you can't!"  
  
"Haley, we don't have a choice! The monthly payments are just too much. We can't afford it any longer."  
  
Haley looked over at her father. "Daddy, do something." She whispered, tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks.  
  
"Your mother's right. There's nothing we can do." He watched as his daughter began to cry and felt himself break apart. This was going to be hard on all of them. They would no longer be able to live as well as they had been. Everything would have to be cut into a strict budget until he could get a new job. "It's for the best, Haley."  
  
"You have no idea what's the best for me! You're never even home enough to know!" She screamed as she ran up the stairs and slammed the door behind her.  
  
She fell onto her bed and cried herself to sleep. 


	9. Chapter 9

Just as quickly as night came, it was over. Haley felt herself being tapped on the shoulder. She rolled over on her stomach and squinted slightly, quickly groaning and rolling onto her side when she saw who the person was. She brought the covers over her head in hopes that the person would dissapear.  
  
"Haley, it's time to wake up." Rose said softly, trying to wake the already woken up Haley.  
  
"Go away." She mumbled from under the covers, burrying herself deeper into her bed.  
  
"Sweetie, you have to get up. You have school in an hour." She got up from her spot on the bed and went over to the window, ripping the blinds open.  
  
The sun trickled into the room and immediately Haley was irritated. She hated the sun in the morning. Especially today, when she knew everything was basically going to suck.  
  
Throwing the covers off from herself, Haley sat up and shot her mother an icy glare. "I could have gotten myself up."  
  
"Somehow I doubt that. You probably still would have been asleep." Rose sat back down on the bed and Haley got up. She didn't want to be anywhere near the woman right now. "Haley, stop being like this. You know it isn't my fault."  
  
"I know it's not your fault, but you just sprung this on me. Whatever happened to financial aid?" She asked, rummaging through her drawers to find her uniform.  
  
"It would have never worked. Besides, this new school won't be so bad. You'll be with Lucas."  
  
Haley stopped what she was doing and stared at her mother. "You're sending me to Tree Hill High? There's like two other public schools in this town and you send me there?"  
  
Rose's brow furrowed. "Well we figured since Lucas went there that you'd want to be with him.."  
  
"No mom, okay? I don't. I hate that school, I hate the people in that school, and to be quite honest, Lucas isn't exactly on my favorite person's list right now."  
  
Haley was still quite mad about what happened the other night at the party. It wasn't like her best friend to get drunk, and it certainly wasn't like him to leave her there alone. She could have gotten raped for God's sake.  
  
But the truth was, Haley's mother always had a thing for her and Lucas being together. Ever since they were little, Rose and Karen were always trying to get their children to be more than just friends. However, Haley would never roll with it. There was a point in time where Lucas was more than willing but that quickly vanished once Haley threatened to castrate him.  
  
Now, they were more than content with being best friends. Haley just wasn't in the mood to tell her mother what had happened...she would have gotten in trouble anyway. She wasn't supposed to be getting drunk at parties on the weekend. It was so out of character for her.  
  
Rose looked at her daughter, who was standing in front of the window in her pink bunny pajamas and her blue and green plaid uniform skirt dangling from her right hand. "I already enrolled you." She said cautiously, waiting for a fight to break out.  
  
Haley shook her head and walked into the bathroom. "Un-freaking believable!" She mumbled to herself, grabbing for her tooth brush and a tube of toothpaste. "When do I start?" She screamed to her mother, who was busily running around her room looking to see if she needed any more clothes for her new school.  
  
"Two days!" Rose screamed back, leaving the room.  
  
"Great." Haley said sarcastically as she started a shower. She stepped in to the scolding hot water, wincing a bit at the temperature, but quickly got used to it. She felt like all her troubles needed to be burned away. Too bad a shower wasn't exactly going to work this time.

* * *

"You're WHAT?" Maddie, one of Haley's good friends shrieked, slamming her locker shut and turning to Haley, who was still putting a few of her books away. "You have got to be kidding me."  
  
"Do I look like I'm kidding you?" Haley slammed her locker shut as well and slung her schoolbag over her shoulder. Maddie followed next to her as they walked down the hall. "I swear I feel like I'm in the damn twilight zone."  
  
"Haley, you and I have been going to school together since we were like..five. How the hell can you leave me?!?"  
  
Haley looked over to her friend and rolled her eyes. "You act like I'm abandoning my chiild or something." They turned the corner and walked into class. "Plus, I don't have a choice. My parents already enrolled me at Tree Hill."  
  
"Well that's just great. Thanks for the warning." Maddie sat down in her seat and Haley sat next to her. The teacher began to take role and start the lesson for the day. "At least you'll be with Lucas."  
  
"Why does everybody keep telling me that!" She screamed, causing the whole class to turn around and look at her.  
  
"Ms. James, Ms. Harper, is there a problem here?" The teacher narrowed her eyes as the two girls looked down at their desks, embarassed by Haley's sudden outburst.  
  
"No problem." Haley grumbled, turning back to Maddie once the teacher resumed the lesson.  
  
"What was that about?!" Maddie hissed, opening her book to the destinated page number.  
  
"I'm just mad at Lucas right now, that's all."  
  
"Well at least you two get to make up." Maddie wagged her eyebrows and Haley smacked her on the arm. "Ow! What, I was just saying!"  
  
"That is so gross! You know Lucas and I aren't like that."  
  
"Yeah but I don't know why you aren't. The boy is fine. And I'm telling you if that was me, I'd be all over that meat like a pack of hungry wolves."  
  
Haley gave her a cocky look. "Well it's good you're not me then." Maddie scoffed and turned the page to her book, acting like she was paying attention. "Anyway, back to the whole point of this conversation. I'll still see you every day...just not in school."  
  
"Wait, I don't get it. Why are you so cool about this? I thought you were like, devastated."  
  
Haley shrugged her shoulders, sticking her pen in her mouth, a dirty habit she always had. "I was. I still am, I guess. But I'm going whether I like it or not."  
  
Maddie nodded her head just as they heard a voice come from in front of them. "Do you think you two drama queens could keep it down? Some of us are actually interested in the colony morphology of various bacterias, ya know."  
  
"Funny, Trevor, real funny." Maddie bit back sarcastically as Trevor turned around fully in his seat.  
  
"It wasn't meant to be funny, dumbass." He smirked and looked over at Haley. "I can't believe you're leaving me."  
  
"Yes, you and only you, you sexy, wonderful, sultry stud, you!" Haley said overdramatized, giggling slightly.  
  
Maddie rolled her eyes. "Who the hell said anything about him being a stud?"  
  
"Just because you don't like me, Harper, does not mean that I can't talk to my friend. Pull the stick out of your ass before it gets lodged up there further and comes out your mouth." Trevor bit back, but yelped immediately after he felt Maddie's foot ram into his ankle. "You are so going to pay for that."  
  
"That's what your mother said on the street corner last night!" Maddie laughed at her own retort.  
  
Haley shook her head and giggled, well aware that the two fighting were once madly in love with eachother. Too bad puppy love always had to come to an end. Maddie and Trevor had dated most of their Freshman year, but broke up in the summer due to "mutual misunderstandings". Whatever that meant.  
  
"You two better knock it off before psycho up there gets spaztic and throws us out." Haley motioned to the teacher standing in the front of the room.  
  
Trevor looked to the front of the room and then back to the two girls. "Bowers is harmless. She's all talk."  
  
"That's not what you were saying last week when she sent you to detention." Maddie smirked.  
  
"Whatever." Trevor looked away from Maddie and back to Haley. "So, when are you leaving us to go to the fiery pits of Hell, aka Tree Hill High? Home of the all mighty Ravens!" He waved his hands in the air sarcastically.  
  
"My last day is tomorrow. So by Wednesday, I'll be roasting in the fiery pits." She laughed a bit, liking how Trevor was making her feel a little better, but she was still saddened that she had to leave her friends.  
  
"Well, I'll come visit you every day." Maddie said sadly.  
  
Trevor shook his head and smiled. "As will I."  
  
"Not on my time." Maddie spat.  
  
"Well then I'll make sure to find some way to get rid of you beforehand." Trevor smirked in satisfaction as he turned back around in his seat.  
  
"Asshole."  
  
"Whore." He whispered, without turning back around. He looked over his shoulder to Haley. "She wants me." He said, motioning over to Maddie, who was fuming.  
  
"I already had you, thank you very much. Let me tell you, it was nothing to brag about."  
  
Haley laughed. "Yeah that's why when you guys first had sex you were on the phone with me for like five hours because it was "so incredibly hot." She said, mocking what Maddie had told her.  
  
"Haley! That was supposed to be a secret!" She narrowed her eyes as Trevor turned around.  
  
"So incredibly hot, huh?" He joked.  
  
"For the first five minutes." She saw the cocky grin on Trevor's face dissapear and she smiled with satisfaction. "I guess that's what being impotent will do to ya, huh Trev?"  
  
Haley put her hand over her mouth to try and stop herself from falling on the ground with laughter. "That's more than I needed to know, thanks."  
  
"Gladly." Maddie said triumphantly.  
  
Trevor rolled his eyes and turned back around, jotting down a few notes, and the two girls did the same. Class was over before they knew it. 


	10. Chapter 10

Haley sighed and walked down the street to her house. School had let out a good half hour ago, and instead of getting a ride home with Maddie, she decided to walk.  
  
The whole school day could not have gone any slower. Sure, she didn't want to leave her school..but she couldn't take any more of Maddie and Trevor's incessant fighting. She had every class with the two, and they never failed to pick at eachother during any of them.  
  
Sadly, tomorrow would be her last day. Haley thought about what Maddie had said earlier that morning. Why was she so cool about the whole thing? Well really, she wasn't exactly cool with it. She just accepted it. There wasn't anything she could do about it. She could still be a bitch to her parents, but regardless, she'd be going to that school bright and early on Wednesday morning.  
  
Breaking away from her thoughts, Haley heard a car horn beeping next to her. She looked over to see Nathan rolling the passenger side window down.  
  
"Want a ride?" He screamed from his side of the car.  
  
Haley stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. "No. I'm walking." She started to walk again and Nathan followed her, keeping the car at a slow, steady pace.  
  
"You're seriously going to walk all the way back to your house? It takes like twenty more minutes to get there."  
  
Haley groaned and walked over to the black mustang, leaning her arms over the window. "What are you doing, stalking me?"  
  
Nathan laughed. "Don't flatter yourself. My basketball coach lives around here."  
  
Raising her eyebrows, nodded her head. "Booty call." She stated matter-of- factly.  
  
"Riiight." He shook his head "Old men are quite a turn on, ya know."  
  
Haley wrinkled her nose. "I bet."  
  
"So are you going to get in?"  
  
Haley thought for a moment, her eyes raising towards the sky, then settled back on Nathan's face. "My mother told me never to take rides from strangers."  
  
The wrinkles in Nathan's forehead became visible and he rolled his eyes. "I'm not a stranger. And if you don't recall, I drove you home yesterday. Or do you just have a foggy memory?"  
  
"No, my memory is just fine thank you very much."  
  
"So is your ass." He said, snickering.  
  
"That's enough Nathan, I'm leaving." Haley turned on her heel and walked back over to the sidewalk, continuing on her way back to her house.  
  
"I'm just going to keep following behind you!" Nathan screamed.  
  
Haley turned her head towards him, then turned so she was staring straight ahead. "Good, then you can have a great view of my 'fine ass', because I'm not getting in your car!"  
  
"Aw man, come on!" He whispered to himself. "Why won't you just get in? You could get mugged by old skanky guys out there!"  
  
"I'll take my chances." She shook her head and laughed slightly. "I already told you, I'm walking. I need the exercise."  
  
"You look fine to me."  
  
Haley stopped and felt a smile tug at her lips. She turned around and walked back over to the car, making sure to go to the drivers side window this time. "Why are you being so nice to me?"  
  
Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "I've always been nice to you."  
  
"I'm such a bitch to you though! Why the hell do you even bother?"  
  
"Why are you such a bitch?"  
  
Haley thought for a second. There were a million things she could have said to him, but she didn't want to start a fight. This guy was nice to her..and she felt bad being rude. She just opted for the one answer that wouldn't get her into trouble. "I don't know."  
  
"Well then I don't know why I'm nice to you."  
  
Haley furrowed her brow. "Wait, are you only saying that because I said I don't know? Or because you really just don't know?"  
  
Nathan smirked. "I don't know." He replied coyly.  
  
She laughed slightly and pulled away from the car window. "Whatever."  
  
"What, don't you trust me?"  
  
Haley crossed her arms over her chest and laughed. "Honestly, no."  
  
"And why not? I took care of you the other night, didn't I?"  
  
"Yes you did, and I still have no idea why."  
  
Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, so why not trust me in driving you home?" He waited for an answer from Haley but she just stood there. "You know you want to." Haley grinned and turned her head, looking away from him. "Oh come on, Haley it's not like I'm going to attack you."  
  
"How do I know you're not gonna!? You're insane!"  
  
Nathan gave her a sarcastic smile. "I am not."  
  
She fought with herself but of course, caved. "Fine." Walking over to the passenger side, she opened the door and got in. "Don't think I actually wanted this ride." She pointed her finger in his face and he smirked.  
  
"Whatever you say."

* * *

"So, truth or dare." Nathan raised an eyebrow, looking over in Haley's direction.  
  
"You can NOT be serious." She looked back at him, but when he didn't say anything, she laughed and shook her head. "I'm not playing truth or dare with you, Nathan."  
  
"Why not? I don't wanna sit in the car and not talk..that's like death for me. This will liven things up a bit."  
  
Haley mumbled something under her breath and propped her head up with her hand. "Fine, truth."  
  
"Ah, going for the easy way out, I see."  
  
"Well, if I picked dare, you'd probably make me do something dirty and I'm sorry but there's a limit."  
  
Nathan held his hands up in protest. "Alright, fine. I'll roll with that."  
  
Haley shifted in her seat, afraid of what Nathan would ask her. She despised this game, and playing it with him made her even more uneasy. He was unpredictable, and that's made her nervous.  
  
"Okay." Nathan thought for a second, then stopped at a red light, looking over at her. "What do you really think of me?"  
  
Haley looked down at her hands. Damn it, what was she supposed to say? She could be her usual bitchy self, make a smart remark and then feel bad about it afterwards. Or she could say something she truly felt. "Dare." She said quickly, turning her head towards the window.  
  
"What? No, you chose truth, now you have to answer my question."  
  
"I don't have to _do_ anything." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
"You do that a lot, you know."  
  
Haley furrowed her brow and looked over at Nathan who had an amused look on his face. "Do what?"  
  
"Cross your arms over your chest. And you only seem to do it when you talk to me. I must rile you up a bit." He smirked and then continued driving.  
  
"I DO only do it with you, because you piss me off."  
  
"Now how do I piss you off if I'm nice to you?"  
  
"That's just the thing! You're nice to me! I don't like it!"  
  
Nathan laughed. "I don't get you."  
  
Haley lifted her nose in the air and smiled triumphantly. "And you never will." She looked out the window again, noticing they were nearing her home. "So, truth or dare."  
  
Nathan looked over at her increduously. "No way. You didn't answer my question so there's no reason I should answer yours."  
  
"I didn't ask you a question yet." She replied matter of factly.  
  
"No, but you will."  
  
"Fine then, I guess that means you want truth."  
  
"No."  
  
"Okay then, dare."  
  
"NO!" He was beginning to get annoyed. He didn't want either.  
  
"Well then what the hell do you want?"  
  
"I want you to stop acting like a damn schizo, Haley. Jesus."  
  
"I'm not acting like a schizo. I just want you to pick one."  
  
Nathan growled and then finally decided to go along with her. "Fine, truth."  
  
"Why did you almost kiss me yesterday?" She bluntly replied, her eyes burning into his skin.  
  
Nathan tensed up. He didn't think she'd ask something like that, but of course, she did. "Caught up in the moment." He answered quickly, shifting his gaze away from her and back onto the road.  
  
"So it didn't mean anything." Haley stated, more of a comment than a question.  
  
He hesitated for a moment before clearning his throat. "No, it didn't."  
  
Haley nodded her head, not letting his words affect her. It wasn't worth it. "Fine." She continued to stare out the side window, not speaking another word.  
  
"Are you mad at me?" He turned the corner to her house and drove down her street.  
  
"When am I not mad at you?"  
  
He didn't answer her as he drove up to the quaint two story house, the house that he'd seen only a day ago. There was something about it that made him want to go inside and investigate. He wanted to know more about it.  
  
Haley reached for the door handle and Nathan grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back to face him. His eyes roamed her face for a few seconds and he looked down at her hands, then back to her. "I lied." Haley nodded her head for him to continue. "I almost kissed you yesterday because I wanted to, not because I was caught up in the moment. I wanted to since the first second you walked into that party."  
  
Did she hear him correctly? He actually wanted to kiss her? Now that was something she had never expected to hear. Nathan Scott, her best friend's brother, actually liked her. That was never a good thing. But she couldn't ignore the sudden urges she was getting.  
  
"Well what about now?" Came her husky reply, as she leaned herself closer to him. She pressed her lips against his gently and pulled away.  
  
What in the HELL was she doing?! She coudln't believe herself. She kissed him. She honestly, truly kissed him. There had to be some kind of brain lapse going on inside her head because she couldn't figure out why she did it. Wasn't she just telling herself yesterday that even if he tried a million times, she'd still try to dodge his kisses? He was right, she had to have been schizo. But it just felt so right. She was drawn to him like a magnet.  
  
He didn't answer as he pulled her lips back to his, increasing the kiss with all the passion he had inside of him. He couldn't think straight. All he could do was concentrate on how right it felt to be kissing her. And although he couldn't understand how her mind worked, he knew one thing. He had a major crush on this girl.  
  
Haley moaned and pulled away slightly. "I lied too." She closed her eyes and trailed kisses from his ear, back to his mouth. "I think you're wonderful." She whispered before kissing him again and walking out of the car.  
  
He smiled and touched his fingers to his lips. "Holy shit." was all he said as he felt an electric tingle run down his spine. He'd never felt anything like that in his entire life. He wondered if she felt it too.  
  
Walking into the house, Haley leaned her back against the door and closed her eyes, remembering what had happened only seconds ago. She had never gotten that feeling before. She was supposed to hate this guy? How the hell could she have been so blind? And so...bitchy? Nathan was right, it was a front she put up. But on Wednesday, she'd have to put that front back up again. Lucas couldn't find out. She'd just act like this whole thing with Nathan never happened. That was the plan.  
  
She ran up the stairs to her room and shut the door behind her, turning around, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Lucas?" 


	11. Chapter 11

"Lucas? What are you doing here?" Haley walked over to her bed where Lucas was seated and sat down next to him, but he quickly got up and walked to the window, his back facing her.  
  
"Who gave you a ride home?" He asked, not bothering to face her. He felt that if he did, he'd rip her head off. By all means, that was the last thing he wanted.  
  
"A friend from school." She replied nonchalantly, taking off her jacket and placing it next to her. She didn't exactly want to see him at the moment. After all, she was still mad at him for what went down the other night at the party.  
  
"Don't bull shit me, Haley." Came his icy reply.  
  
Haley gulped, looking over in his direction. He knew. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I saw you with him!" He turned around and walked over to her. "You think you can just lie to me like that? You think that I'm stupid?"  
  
Haley shook her head quickly, her eyes clouding over with tears. She had never seen Lucas like this before, and it scared her.  
  
"God damn it Haley, why the fuck were you with him?!"  
  
Haley tried to regain her bearings. He had some nerve to come into her house..when her parents weren't home mind you, sit up in her room, wait for her, and then yell at her? Hell no, he wanted a fight, and she was going to fight back.  
  
"So now you're spying on me?" She asked, her eyes wide in amazement. "I cannot believe you're even here after what you did the other night!"  
  
"DON'T change the subject!" He paced around the room, running his hands through his hair. "I'm going to ask you again, Haley. What were you doing with him?" His voice quieted down to a growl like sound.  
  
"He gave me a ride home. Nothing happened."  
  
Lucas shook his head and laughed sarcastically. "That's a bunch of sh!t, and you wanna know why? Because I saw you kissing him, alright? I saw you!"  
  
Haley couldn't believe this. He was yelling..at her? Shouldn't it have been the other way around? "It's none of your damn business!" She screamed, walking over to him, their faces were mere inches apart. Oh yeah, they were both seething. "You know what Lucas, you have nerve. After what you pulled the other night, you don't even deserve to be FIGHTING with me at the moment! I shouldn't even be bothering to look at you!"  
  
Lucas bit his lip. It took everything he had not to punch the wall in. He balled his fists up until his fingernails broke the skin of his palms. "How could you do this to me?" He looked at her disgustedly. "And with him.."  
  
Haley looked down at the ground. "I didn't do anything."  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Lucas saw a shirt hanging from the closet doorknob. He trudged over to it, picking it up and shoving it in her face. "What is this, then? What, are you fucking him now too?"  
  
Haley pulled the black ravens shirt with the name SCOTT written on the back from Lucas' hand. She quickly threw it to the ground. "That's here because you left me the other night! You went with your whores and left me alone at his house! He took care of me, Lucas!"  
  
"Yeah, and fucked you on the side, right?"  
  
Haley let out a heavy breath and bit her lip. "I want you out of my house." When Lucas didn't move, she cracked. "NOW! Get the fuck out of my house!"  
  
"Don't come crawling to me when you get hurt." Lucas looked her over one last time and slammed the door shut.  
  
Haley screamed, picking up a glass vase and heaving it at the door. What the hell was she going to do now? Her best friend hated her. It seemed like one of those stupid soap operas. Or like a sleazy talk show.  
  
To be honest, she didn't expect Lucas to find out this way. She didn't expect him to find out at all. And the way he reacted, she knew he would have hit her if he didn't restrain himself. It made her even more upset. Now instead of being totally pissed, she just felt plain awful.  
  
She had to get out. She didn't want to be in her room after what had just happened. It would remind her too much of Lucas, and right now she hated him.  
  
She pulled on her jacket and ran out of the house, walking to the one place she knew she had to go to. She didn't care how long it took to get there, or how much her feet would hurt after she arrived. All she knew was she had to see him.

* * *

An hour later, she stood face to face with the gigantic beach house. She rang the doorbell, hoping that he might be there. She got her wish.  
  
"Haley?" Nathan asked, a bit surprised. She looked disheveled, helpless, and a downright mess.  
  
"Lucas...he knows." Her voice cracked as she broke down into tears.  
  
Haley broke down into tears as she launched herself into Nathan's arms. She couldn't help but keep thinking that this wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to be reality.  
  
Nathan looked down at her and pulled her away from him, his hands resting on her shoulders. "Whoa, whoa, calm down." He watched as another tear rolled down Haley's cheek and he wiped it away, tucking a strand of disheveled hair behind her ear. "What happened?"  
  
She sniffled and cleared her throat, running her hand over her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from falling. "Lucas saw us..in the car earlier." She looked down at the ground and shuffled her feet. "He saw us kissing, Nathan. He was so mad."  
  
Nathan lifted her chin up so that he was eye level with her. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"It's all my fault, if I didn't accept that ride from you then none of this would have ever happened.."  
  
He stopped her abruptly, forcing her to look at him once again. "Haley, look at me." She raised her head and stared into his eyes, but quickly looked away. She couldn't do it. "You did nothing wrong, alright?"  
  
"I wish I could believe you." She whispered softly, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to stop shaking.  
  
"You can't blame the way he reacted on yourself, Haley. It's not going to do any good."  
  
"I feel like I betrayed him." She turned around and sat down on the front step, and Nathan sat next to her. "Nathan, You should have seen the way he acted. He was so mad, I thought he was going to hit me."  
  
"He's lucky he didn't or I would have kicked his ass."  
  
Haley smiled and nudged his shoulder. "He found the shirt you let me borrow the other night. He accused me of sleeping with you..then it all just escalated from there and I told him to get out."  
  
"Figures he'd say that. He's always so quick to judge me."  
  
"Well he was even quicker to judge me." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "God, I don't know if I'm more pissed or upset."  
  
Nathan sighed and looked down at her. "Do you want me to talk to him?"  
  
As fast as lightning, Haley's head bolted up. "NO. noo you don't want to do that." She shook her head and got up. "I wouldn't even go and talk to him right now. So I certainly don't want you going over there." She walked around to the back of the house and onto the beach with Nathan in tow.  
  
"He's making it sound like it's such a big deal."  
  
Haley stopped and turned around. "It is a big deal, Nathan. I barely even know you and he catches me kissing you in a car. God knows what else he thinks, but I'm sure it's not good."  
  
"If it was any other guy he wouldn't give a shit."  
  
"That's the thing. You aren't just any other guy. You two have history together..he hates you. You're the last person he'd ever want me to see."  
  
"You're acting like he owns you though, and he doesn't."  
  
"He's my best friend." She whispered, her eyes filling up with tears once again. "He's my best friend and I ruined it because of a fling."  
  
"So you're saying you regret what happened between us."  
  
"I don't know." She let out a heavy breath and sat down in the sand, picking up a handful and letting it fall back to the ground. "It was just a kiss."  
  
"Was it?" He asked, sitting down next to her.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, what if it meant something more?" His hopeful eyes searched her face for a response.  
  
She went to open her mouth, fully ready to say something else, but she couldn't. "It can't."  
  
"But what if it did?"  
  
"Nathan, I barely know you." Her response was weak.  
  
"That's not what I asked." He kneeled in front of her. "Look me in the eye and tell me it didn't mean anything."  
  
She stared down at the ground, not able to look at him. If she were to see those deep, blue eyes, she'd spill her whole soul out. "It didn't mean anything."  
  
"That's a lie." He got up and stood in front of her. "You know that's a lie."  
  
"We were caught up in the moment. It shouldn't have happened. It can't happen anymore!" She got up and walked over to the water, hoping he wouldn't follow her.  
  
"If it didn't mean anything, then why are you here?"  
  
Haley kept herself facing away from him, letting tears fall down her cheeks. She wanted to tell him the truth so badly. She longed for him to know how she really felt, that after the short amount of time she'd known him for, she wanted to be with him. "I needed to see you." She said softly.  
  
He walked next to her, watching the small waves crash over their feet. They were getting soaked. "Then why don't you tell me the truth?"  
  
She looked out at the water and bit her lip, her eyes squinting, trying desperately to stop the tears from spilling over. "Because the truth would just throw everything even more off balance."  
  
Nathan edged closer to her, cupping her face in his hands, forcing her with all his might to look at him. "Please don't lie to me."  
  
She placed her hands over his, rubbing her thumbs in gentle circles. "We can't do this. I can't feel like this towards you."  
  
"But you do."  
  
Haley nodded her head. "Yes, I do."  
  
Without any further words, Nathan leaned in and kissed her. Haley responded back, letting the kiss take her over. She couldn't manage to pull away. She knew she had to, but the feeling she got every time she felt his lips on hers were enough to send her flying through the sky. She wanted to have that feeling for as long as she could.  
  
"It's not right." She murmured against his lips, trying to focus on the main reason why she came here..to end things before they progressed too far.  
  
"Yes it is." He breathed heavily, trailing kisses down her neck.  
  
Her eyes went to the heavens, _I'm so sorry, Lucas_. she thought to herself, before bringing Nathan's mouth back to her own. _I'm so sorry that this feels so right_. 


	12. Chapter 12

"So, first day at a new school." Haley's mom started, turning the corner and looking as the huge stone building came into view.  
  
Wednesday had approached, against Haley's wishes, and she was finally going to be "burning in the fiery pits," as Trevor would have bluntly put it.  
  
Haley just stared out the window, watching a few kids walk up the street with their schoolbags dragging on the ground. They didn't look too happy.  
  
"Are you excited?" Her mother asked, looking over at her.  
  
Haley rolled her eyes and stared at Rose's face. "Do I look happy to you, mother?"  
  
"Don't get cocky. I just asked you a question." She stopped the car at a red light, easing back into her seat. "I could have sworn you would've gotten a ride with Lucas today."  
  
"Don't start with Lucas, mom. I'm not in the mood."  
  
Rose furrowed her brow. "What happened between you two? You haven't spoken to each other in days."  
  
Haley sighed and leaned her head against the cold window. "Can we just not talk about it, please?"  
  
"Sure, sweetie." Rose said softly, turning her attention back to the light as it turned green. "You look cute today."  
  
Haley looked down at herself. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a purple glitter t-shirt with a rhinestone butterfly on the front, and her hair was pulled back with soft curls falling down her face. "Thanks."  
  
"It's a good thing we did some extra shopping before summer was over or else you wouldn't have had any clothes." She laughed nervously, well aware that Haley wasn't in the mood to talk. Rose was thankful when they finally pulled up in front of the building. "We're here."  
  
Haley took a deep breath and turned to her mother. "Be here at 2:15, and don't be late because I really don't want to stay here by myself. It's bad enough that I don't know anybody."  
  
Rose nodded. "It'll be fine, Haley. I'm sure you'll love this school just as much as you loved Rosemont."  
  
"Whatever." She grabbed her school bag from the back seat and exited the car, "Later."

* * *

This school was about the most enormous building Haley had ever seen in her whole 16 years of human existence. The halls seemed to stretch on for miles, and there were about four floors. Thank God she was late and there were no people in the hall because she felt intimidated enough as it is.  
  
She glanced over her roster that she had picked up from the Student Affairs Office only a few moments ago. Her first class was science, which was in room 342. She was currently at her locker-and as luck would have it, was in the basement. So that meant she had to walk up about four flights of stairs. Oh joy.  
  
Mumbling curses under her breath, she finally made it up the stairs and into the third floor hallway. She could have heard a pin drop if it wasn't for the repetitive sound of her heels clicking against the hard floor. It was something she wasn't used to, since her old school had carpeted floors.  
  
After a few moments, Haley stood outside of her classroom. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open, trying not to let the embarrassment that she was feeling seep out of her. All eyes were on her as she walked to the front of the room and over to the teacher.  
  
"I'm sorry I'm late. I'm new and I wasn't exactly sure where to go." She handed him a slip of paper and he looked it over, nodding in approval.  
  
"It's alright. First day is always the worst. Just don't let it happen too often." He smiled and stood up from his desk, grabbing the attention of the class. "Everyone, this is.." He peered down at the paper in his hands, "Haley James."  
  
Instantly, Nathan's head shot up. Wait a minute...Haley? He wasn't paying attention, as usual, and didn't hear anybody walk in. He would have tuned out whatever the teacher was saying too but the name Haley broke him out of his intense thoughts..which weren't really that intense to begin with...to any other person but Nathan of course. Who knew what went on inside that head of his.  
  
His eyes shifted to the front of the room and there she was, standing there looking utterly humiliated. "Holy shit." He whispered to himself. She was in his school..in his class. What the hell?  
  
"Yo Nate." Tim whispered, nudging Nathan in the shoulder. "There's the chick on your cell phone! There she is!" he said giddily, jumping up in his seat a bit. "Don't you see her?"  
  
"Shut up, dumbass. Of course I see her!" He watched as Haley walked down the aisle and took the only empty seat, that just so happened to be next to Nathan.  
  
Obviously she was in a world of her own, or just completely embarrassed because her eyes refused to look around the room. She just took out her textbook and opened to the assigned page.  
  
_This is too weird._ Nathan thought to himself before turning to Haley. "Hey." He said quietly, trying not to gain the attention of the teacher.  
  
Haley really didn't want to speak to anybody. She didn't know a soul, and just wanted to get through this day in one piece. "Hi." She said, not looking up from her book.  
  
"HEY." Nathan stressed the word more adamantly than the first time.  
  
Haley could feel her body tense up. Obviously this person wanted to talk to her, and they weren't going to let up any time soon. She raised her eyes from her book and looked over, seeing Nathan in the desk next to her. Instantly, her eyes lit up. "Hey!" She said happily.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"Long story." She sighed and looked over at him. Damn he looked good. Almost too good for school.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming here?" He asked, edging his desk a bit closer to hers.  
  
"I was kind of upset about it." She said softly, looking down at the ground. "But at least I have this class with you. I guess I know somebody now." She smiled as he leaned over to kiss her.  
  
"Mr. Scott." He heard the teacher call him, and he pulled away from Haley quickly. "I know you like fresh meat but please, save it for after school, alright?"  
  
Haley looked down at her desk embarrassed as Nathan laughed like it was no big deal. "No prob, Mr. Perez."  
  
They didn't see Lucas staring at them from the front of the room, his eyes holding more anger than they ever had in his whole life. 


	13. Chapter 13

It seemed like that damn Science class went on forever. Haley was ready to peel out of that place as fast as possible. She could just feel people's eyes on her throughout the whole class, and it made her very uneasy. If it wasn't for Nathan sitting next to her, she'd feel like a total outcast.  
  
Hearing the bell ring made Haley sigh with relief, packing up her books as quickly as she could and slinging her school bag over her shoulder. She grabbed her final textbook, which wouldn't fit into her school bag, off of her desk and held it in her arms. Damn school, damn heavy textbooks, damn overloaded work schedule. What was with her saying damn so many damn times? Damn, there she went again..  
  
She stopped scolding herself and looked over at Nathan, who was standing across from her.  
  
"You okay?" He asked, giving her a weird look.  
  
"Uh yeah" She shook her head to clear her thoughts and then smiled. "Why?"  
  
"You just look like you're in a daze or something."  
  
Haley laughed slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "Just first day jitters I guess. To be honest, it's a little intimidating to be in here."  
  
"Don't be intimidated. These shmucks will bow down to you once they know you're with me. So don't worry about them giving you trouble."  
  
"Okay mister conceited." She scoffed and slapped him on the shoulder, walking out of the room with Nathan next to her. Taking her schedule out of her bag, Haley scanned the remainder of her classes. "Please tell me you have a free period next."  
  
Nathan lifted his eyebrows amused. "I have a free period next."  
  
"Wait, are you just saying that? Or do you really?"  
  
"No, I really do." He laughed and stopped at his locker, emptying the remainder of books that were in his bag before shoving the actual bag in. "So how about I make myself useful and show you around."  
  
"Hmm, I guess I could be seen with you." Haley laughed and grabbed onto his arm, pulling him in the direction of her locker. "First I need to empty some of this stuff out. I swear they actually want to make you suffer just because you're smart and are in advanced classes."  
  
"Well if you weren't so smart then maybe you'd have no books to carry around, like me for instance."  
  
Haley rolled her eyes and stopped in front of her locker, twisting the combination and opening the door. "You're smart, Nathan. You knew what you were doing in Science class."  
  
"Yeah, that's the only class." He leaned up against the row of lockers behind him.  
  
"If you ever need help with anything, I used to tutor." Haley finished what she was doing and they began walking once again.  
  
Nathan raised an eyebrow "Yeah?"  
  
"Mmmhmm. I was thinking of doing it here too. They do have a program for tutors, right?"  
  
"Yeah." Nathan laughed and shook his head.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I just can't picture you tutoring, that's all."  
  
"Well Scott, there's a lot of things you don't know about me." Haley said suggestively as she wiggled her eyebrows.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"That's for me to know and you to find out." She smirked as they entered the main hallway. "Okay. So, show me around Mr. basketball superstar."  
  
"So, I see Lucas talks about me a lot."  
  
Haley immediately felt that weight being brought back to her shoulders. "Please don't bring that name up."  
  
"Sorry." Nathan said apologetically. "You just knew that I was big with basketball so I assumed Lucas told you some things about me."  
  
"Well yeah, he has." Haley knew she had to cut this conversation short before it went any further. "What's down there?" She quickly pointed to the end of the hallway.  
  
Nathan knew she was trying to change the subject, but he just decided to roll with it anyway, "The gym..aka my second home." He sounded a bit disgruntled when he said it, like it wasn't exactly a place he wanted to be at all the time.  
  
"Let's go check it out." She said quickly before he had a chance to protest. She grabbed Nathan's hand and pulled him down the hallway, through the huge gym doors.  
  
Half of the players stopped dead in their tracks, staring at the disruption that caused them to get giddy. It was actually quite sickening.  
  
Nathan noticed this, and quickly stepped in front of Haley. He knew Tim already had his eye on her. He didn't know who else would try to claim her. These guys were sneaky, and he had to constantly watch his back.  
  
"Yo." Nathan smacked fists with Tim, who brought over the rest of the team.  
  
"We were wondering where you were. It's not like you to be late." Tim looked over Nathan's shoulder at Haley, and smiled. "But now I know why. Aren't you going to introduce us all?"  
  
"Uh yeah." Nathan turned to Haley. "This is Haley." All the guys smiled. _Back off, losers. She's mine._ Nathan kept thinking to himself in his mind, which made him chuckle a bit out loud. Luckily, nobody noticed. "This is Tim, Jake, Greg, Mark, Zach...some of the guys aren't here because they have class."  
  
He didn't notice Lucas standing there, clenching the ball to the point where it was about to pop. All of the sudden, Lucas slammed the ball onto the ground and walked into the locker room, ripping the door open and slamming his fist into his locker.  
  
"What the hell is his problem?" Tim asked, confused.  
  
"Who knows." Although Nathan knew, he wasn't going to tell anybody about the current circumstance he and Haley were in regarding Lucas. Nobody but Nathan knew about Haley's ties to Lucas, and he wanted it to stay that way for a while.  
  
"I'll go talk to him." Jake said, turning away and entering the locker room. Haley was afraid of what Lucas would say about her..about Nathan. But now wasn't the time to worry about that.  
  
"So Nate, you shootin some hoops this morning?" Tim looked hopeful.  
  
"Nah, not this morning. I have to show Haley around. I'll see you at practice this afternoon." Nathan looked at Haley and smiled, but noticed she looked melancholy. He knew why. He took her hand and led her out of the gym.

* * *

Haley's eyes fell to the ground as she nervously stared at her hands. "I shouldn't have gone in there. I should have known he'd be in there."  
  
"Why do you always blame yourself for what he does, Haley? Don't blame yourself for him being an asshole."  
  
"Yeah, but it's my fault he's being like this." She looked up at Nathan with tears in her eyes. She and Lucas had gotten into fights before, but nothing like this. This was big. She just wondered if he was blowing it way out of proportion.  
  
"Hey, he'll get over it." Nathan cupped her face in his hands and ran his thumbs over her cheeks, leaning down and kissing her softly.  
  
The slam of a door broke them out of their almost-make out session. Haley jerked her head to the side and saw Lucas standing in the doorway, looking like a deer caught in headlights. As if it wasn't bad enough that he knew, he just had to walk in on them kissing. This was just perfect.  
  
"Don't mind me." He snarled, giving the two the evil eye as he walked by.  
  
"Lucas, wait!" Haley quickly looked over at Nathan and he nodded, knowing exactly where she was going. "Wait here." She whispered before running to catch up with Lucas.  
  
"Not now, Haley." He said, without even turning to face her.  
  
"Why won't you just talk to me? I'm trying to apologize."  
  
Lucas turned around, causing Haley to stumble back a bit. "Apologize for what, huh? For kissing him? For fucking him after you knew our circumstances? I can't believe you'd actually try to apologize to me. Give me a break."  
  
"You know what, Lucas? That's bullshit."  
  
Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, amused. "Really..."  
  
"We didn't have sex. You of all people should believe me when I say that."  
  
"Why should I believe that? You slept over his house, came home in his clothes, and then practically had sex in his car."  
  
"Because you left me there!" She clenched her fists in her pockets. It took everything in her not to reach up and punch him square in the nose. "This whole thing started because you got piss ass drunk and decided to go boink those two hoes!"  
  
"Oh so what, now you're blaming this on me?"  
  
"I always did blame it on you! You were the one who made me go to that damn party! But you know what? I'm glad I met Nathan. I like him, he likes me."  
  
"Yeah, he likes to use you."  
  
"You're so quick to judge, aren't you?" Haley asked incredulously, looking behind her shoulder to make sure Nathan couldn't hear their screaming. She was sure he could though..along with half of the student body. "Maybe if you could get your head out of your ass you'd see that he's a great guy."  
  
"Whatever, Haley. I don't want to hear you lecture me. Go and be with Nathan....have a great life. But don't expect me in it ever again." Lucas turned and walked away, leaving Haley screaming after him.  
  
"I cannot believe you!" She yelled, breaking down in tears. She sunk down to the ground, burying her head in her hands.  
  
Nathan ran over and sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around her and smoothing her hair with his hand. "Let it go, Haley." He whispered as she dug her nails into his shoulders.  
  
"Why is he being like this?" She looked up at Nathan, mascara and tears running down her face. He couldn't stand to see her like this, and knowing that it was at the expense of Lucas made it that much more worse.  
  
"Because he's a bastard." Haley sniffled and nodded her head. "Look, I'm sorry I'm causing all this trouble. If you don't want this anymore, we can stop it's-"  
  
"No." She put her finger over his mouth to silence him. "I want this." She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. "I need you. And if I can't have you, then I'll be miserable."  
  
For once, Nathan wasn't thinking about himself. He hated what he was about to say, although he knew he had to. "But Haley, Lucas is your best friend."  
  
Haley shook her head. "I don't care. I mean, I do...but Nathan I don't know what it is. I can't stay away from you. As corny as it may sound."  
  
Nathan smiled. "Even if it costs you your friendship?"  
  
"It already has." She pressed her lips against his, letting her tongue explore his mouth. "I know it's hurting him. But I can't stop it."  
  
She didn't know how she'd rather be with her best friend's brother. But she couldn't keep herself away from him. Every time she kissed him, she felt these butterflies in her stomach that made her want to get him in a janitor's closet and have her way with him. She knew she was hurting Lucas, she knew she was hurting him so much. But for some reason, she couldn't pry herself away from Nathan. It was like he had some kind of power over her, some kind of spell...and she loved it.  
  
"I don't want you to lose your best friend because of me." He whispered.  
  
"I need to be with you." She said lightly, resting her forehead on his.  
  
"This is crazy."  
  
Haley smiled. "So crazy that I trust it." 


	14. Chapter 14

"So in conclusion, the romantic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet leaves much to be desired. While the two shared a passionate romance, they also reached their downfall when they murdered themselves."  
  
Haley scribbled a few notes down in her copybook and looked up at the clock. This class was never going to end. It didn't help that she had to listen to the teacher blab on about something that was written over a hundred years ago, either. While Haley normally loved Shakespeare, today was not the day she wanted to listen to it. And Romeo and Juliet? Please, she read that story in eighth grade.  
  
She sighed and ripped the page out of her copybook, crumpling it up and chucking it in her school bag. There were a few notes written on it, but the rest were ways to talk to Lucas without him freaking out. She figured writing him a note would be the best thing to do. The more she thought about it though, the more it sounded like a bad idea. She shouldn't have even bothered wasting her breath..or her penmanship.  
  
Haley just couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever get her best friend back. He was sitting right across from her and didn't look in her direction the whole time. And when she spared a glance at him, he would shift in his seat, like he knew she was staring. The whole situation made her terribly uneasy.  
  
"Okay, so I have an idea that I'd like to address, and I think if you'd all be up for it, it would be fabulous." The teacher started to inquire, and everyone groaned.  
  
Haley just looked over at Lucas yet again, who remained still. It was at this point where she wished she had the ability to read his mind. But the more she thought about it, the more turned off she became. The only thing he was probably thinking of was how much of a bitch she was.  
  
"I'd like you to write your own versions of Romeo and Juliet. You know, modern day. BUT, that doesn't mean you can use Ebonics or any other kind of slang. We need none of that." Everybody snickered as the teacher continued. "I'd like to pair you up in groups of two. This means girl and boy pairs only. You will write your own version and then act it out in front of the class."  
  
"Can this involve sex?" A boy from the back of the room yelled as the rest of his classmates laughed.  
  
"It isn't a porno novel Mr. Sando, it's a play. You put sexual innuendo or gestures in there and I'll be sure to set up a lovely meeting with the principal for you."  
  
"Aw man." The boy slumped back in his chair and received a pat on the shoulder from his friend.  
  
"Alright, now that that's settled, let's get started." The teacher started running through a list of names, pairing couples together. Haley was getting nervous because her name was yet to be called.  
  
_Please don't pair me with Lucas. Please, Please, Please-  
_  
"Haley James and Lucas Scott."  
  
"Shit." She mumbled under her breath, looking over at Lucas. He rolled his eyes and then turned back to his book.  
  
How much did this suck? She KNEW something like this was going to happen. Low and behold, look who she was paired up with. There was no way in hell she could do this project with Lucas acting the way he was.  
  
She was about to raise her hand when the teacher interjected. "Pairs are non-negotiable. Who you have is who you will stay with."

* * *

"Hey." Nathan said, sneaking up behind Haley and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.  
  
"Hey, what's up?"  
  
"Oh nothing." He walked up next to her. "What's wrong? You look upset."  
  
"Story of my life." Haley forced a laugh. She had a feeling she was going to be upset for a long, LONG while. "Actually, Lucas and I were just paired up for this project in English. You know how that's gonna turn out."  
  
"I feel sorry for you." He joked, walking to his locker. "So, you wanna come to practice with me? Cheer me on while I kick my own team's ass?"  
  
Haley ran her hand through her hair and looked at him nervously. "You really think that's a good idea? I mean, with Lucas and all?"  
  
"Haley, you guys go to the same school now. You have like five classes together. Besides, if he knows what's good for him, he'll lay off."  
  
She let out a heavy breath and sighed. "Alright, what the hell."

* * *

"Nathan! Pass the ball to Lucas!" Whitey screamed as the boys scrambled to get to the basketball first. Nathan was double-teamed, as usual, and wasn't going to give the ball up anytime soon.  
  
Whitey watched, growing more annoyed by the second. "Damn it, Nathan! I'm not going to tell you again!"  
  
Three more seconds went by before the ball smoothly sailed through the net....not by Lucas, but by Nathan.  
  
"Get your ass over here! NOW!" Whitey growled, signaling to Nathan. "The rest of you, suicides!" The rest of the team groaned as Nathan made his way over to where Whitey was standing.  
  
"Next time you won't be so lucky, Scott. You think you can do that during a game? I'm telling you, you do that, and I'll bench you so fast you'll have marks on your ass!"  
  
Nathan looked over at Lucas and scowled. "He wouldn't have been able to knock down that shot, coach."  
  
"You don't tell me! Now you decide next time you want to pull a stunt like that, whose team you're on. When you're on my team, you use my rules. Do I make myself clear?"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Don't worry, he's not always like that."  
  
Haley turned around and was greeted by a tall blonde cheerleader. "Um, okay..."  
  
"I'm Peyton." She stuck out her hand. "From the party?"  
  
"Yeah, I remember." Haley shook her hand and looked back at Nathan, who seemed to be taking a bit of Whitey's advice. "I'm Haley."  
  
"So I've heard." Haley furrowed her brow. "News travels fast in this school. You're fresh meat."  
  
Haley nodded, not really knowing what to say to the girl.  
  
"So, you and Nathan..." Peyton watched as Haley raised her eyebrows. "Dating?"  
  
She shrugged, hugging her knees to her chest. "I guess you could say that. In a sense I guess we are."  
  
"Cool." Peyton sat down next to her on the bleachers and propped her head up with her hands. "He's a good guy. A little rough around the edges, but when you date him for a while he warms up to you."  
  
"You guys dated?"  
  
Peyton nodded. "For about a year, actually. But it didn't work out. Too much drama and all that junk."  
  
Haley looked over at the beautiful blonde and then over at Nathan. Go figure. She could have guessed those two dated. Blonde beauty queen cheerleader and star basketball player. To any other person it would seem to be a match made in heaven.  
  
"So uh, your friend down there seems to be giving me the evil eye."  
  
Peyton cast her glance down to the other side of the gym where she saw Brooke with an angry expression on her face. "Yeah, she doesn't exactly take well to new people." She laughed, brushing a stray curl out of her face. "She's harmless though. As long as you stay away from Lucas because she basically has cheer sex with him during games. It's quite sickening."  
  
Haley studied the now fuming brunette. "Well that's going to be kind of hard. Lucas is my best friend." She realized what she had just said and immediately regretted it. "Um..used..to be my best friend."  
  
"Drama with Nathan?"  
  
Haley looked up, surprised. "Yeah, how'd you know?"  
  
"Oh come on, those two are always at each other's throats. I just figured you were caught in the middle." She got up and grabbed her pompoms. "I know I was. See you around"  
  
Haley muttered a light goodbye as she watched Peyton go back to the squad and start a new routine. She then again focused her attention back to the Scott brothers. What had she gotten herself into?

* * *

Practice went on for the next hour as planned. Which meant that Lucas and Nathan were acting like jackasses to one another, even more so than usual.  
  
Haley knew this went on every day, but now noticed that it was pretty much Lucas being the worst, and Nathan just trying to stick it back to him. The two were at each other's throats, and it made Haley extremely uneasy. She couldn't help but feel stuck in the middle of their incessant arguing.  
  
By this point in time, Whitey was about ready to bust a blood vessel, so he screamed at the boys to hit the showers. They all slumped their shoulders and headed into the locker room, a little bummed that practice was cut short all because the two boys couldn't leave each other alone. But then again, this was how it always went. Practice was either terminated or was spent doing suicides, due to the aftermath of their squabbles.  
  
Haley jumped off of the bleachers as quickly as she could and grabbed Lucas by the shoulder before he could get into the locker room.  
  
"We really need to talk." She had no idea why she was being so forceful, but it was tearing her up inside that Lucas wouldn't talk to her. She didn't know how much longer she could take it.  
  
"We already tried that." He growled, turning back around.  
  
Haley stopped him again. "Well you know what Lucas? We're going to try it again."  
  
His gaze was cold. "Don't you get it, Haley? I don't want to speak to you right now."  
  
"Look, I just came to talk about this project. Can you at least act civil for two minutes?"  
  
"What about it?" He asked, growing impatient. His tolerance to her was wearing thin..not that it hadn't already.  
  
"When can we work on it?"  
  
"I'll do it myself." He answered, throwing his shirt over his shoulder.  
  
"Um, no. It's a group project; therefore, we do it together. I don't care what kind of beef you have with me at the moment, but I'm not getting a shit grade for it."  
  
Lucas rolled his eyes.  
  
"Okay you know what? I don't want to work with you either! But we have to do it. So make a choice now, my house or yours."  
  
He hesitated for a moment and shot her another one of his brooding, icy glares. Man she hated those looks..despised them was actually a better answer. And to be quite honest, she had never been the one to get that look before. But now, she finally was.  
  
"Mine." Lucas said, before turning around and seeing Nathan. He turned back to Haley. "Just get your boyfriend to drive you." He added sarcastically before retreating into the locker room.

* * *

"It's reasons like this where I think you should carry a stun gun or a can of mase with you. Don't you think?" Nathan joked, pulling into Lucas' driveway.  
  
"Funny. I can always just bite him, right?"  
  
"True." He laughed and leaned over to kiss her. "If he gives you any trouble, just call me. Okay?"  
  
"Mhmm." She mumbled against his mouth, kissing him once more before she opened the car door. "Be back here in an hour."  
  
She walked up the driveway and watched as Nathan drove off. It wasn't until she reached Lucas' front door that she began to feel nervous. The guy pretty much hated her. Now she had to be stuck in his house for an hour with him. It wasn't exactly her idea of a pleasant afternoon.  
  
Haley knocked and waited for the door to open. Against her wishes, it did. Lucas immediately turned back around, walking into the house, leaving Haley on the front step.  
  
"Good to see you too." She mumbled, stepping in and  
  
closing the door behind her.  
  
She noticed the house was quiet, and figured that Karen was probably working down at the cafe. Lucas took a seat on the couch and refused to look at Haley. Why did he have to be so stubborn.  
  
"So, how do you want to do this?" She asked, sitting on a nearby chair. She carefully pulled her notebook out of her schoolbag and opened to a fresh, clean page.  
  
"I told you how I wanted to do it. By myself. But apparently that idea didn't run too well with you."  
  
Haley threw her head back and slumped into the chair. "Can we just do this and get it over with? It'll be done with and then we won't have to worry about it until Friday when we have to act it out. Then you can go back to ignoring me like you've been doing."  
  
"Great, then you can go back to fucking my brother." Lucas gritted his teeth and flipped open his copybook.  
  
"That's real mature, Luke." She had promised herself before she got there that whatever he would dish out, she would take. She wouldn't let herself cry in front of him. She'd just wait until she got home... "Besides, when has he ever been your 'brother'?" Haley asked harshly, making air quotations as she said the word brother.  
  
"Just because I hate his guts doesn't mean he's not related to me in some way. We have the same dad for Christ's sake."  
  
Haley rolled her eyes. "Yeah? And since when has Dan ever been your 'dad'?" She waited for Lucas to answer but he remained silent. "I mean, come on, Luke. You never acknowledge Nathan as your brother, or Dan as your dad. Whenever somebody says that to you, you jump down their throat. Now suddenly you're pissed at me and find some way to stick it to me by saying they're part of your family in a sense."  
  
"I didn't say they were part of my family."  
  
"No, but you called Nathan your brother and Dan your dad. When in the hell have you EVER done that?" Haley raised her voice an octave.  
  
"You know what? I really don't want to discuss this right now. Let's just take your advice and finish this, alright?" Lucas ripped a page of paper out of his book and began feverishly scribbling on it.  
  
Haley didn't bother to answer him. She just let out a heavy sigh and ripped out a page as well.

* * *

"Done at last!" Haley exclaimed, slamming her pen down and gathering the few papers that had accumulated around her. She looked across at Lucas, who was doing the same. "Look Lucas, I'm sorry if I hurt you, and upset you."  
  
He wouldn't look at her as he spoke. He just continued to gather his papers. "The damage is done now, Hales."  
  
"But I don't want us to be like this."  
  
Lucas stopped what he was doing and sighed. He honestly didn't know how much longer he could stay like this. Sure he was beyond mad at her, but he had reason to be. He just wanted his best friend back. He couldn't give in to what he wanted though, that would just be like he was letting her win.  
  
Just as he was about to speak, he heard a car horn beep. "You should go."  
  
Haley hesitated for a moment before grabbing her school bag and walking to the door. "Yeah. See you tomorrow." She said sadly, walking out onto the front porch.  
  
Lucas sat down with his head in his hands. This royally sucked. 


	15. Chapter 15

Haley sighed as she put a few books into her locker. It was five of eight and she was seriously not in the mood to be at school. First period hadn't even started yet..but she was already itching to leave.  
  
"So, I'm assuming you didn't have to take action and bite him, right?"  
  
Haley looked over to her right and saw Nathan leaning up against a row of lockers next to her. She smiled and unloaded the remainder of her books, shutting her locker and closing the padlock tightly.  
  
"Hard to resist, but somehow or another I managed." She smiled and looked down at the ground.  
  
"My dad has a stun gun at home. I could always lend it to you."  
  
Haley rolled her eyes. "What the hell is your dad doing with a stun gun?"  
  
Nathan shrugged, pulling lightly at the strap of his schoolbag. "Who knows? He probably had it to knock my mom out when she got annoying, but now that she's out of the picture I don't really know what he uses it for."  
  
"Well that's reassuring." Haley laughed. Maybe she could just get a pair of brass knuckles and sideswipe Lucas when he decided to go into jackass mode. "So, you wanna walk to class with me?"  
  
"Actually.." Nathan started, looking down the hall and then back at Haley. "I was thinking of just cutting out of first period. Science isn't exactly my thing." He watched as Haley shook her head and shot him a glare. "Don't give me that look. I'm just not studious like some people are."  
  
"That has nothing to do with it." She defended herself.  
  
"Sure it doesn't. Come on, we can just go make out in the car for a little bit."  
  
"Oh yeah, because that's definitely an example of doing something productive with my time. You know, if I'm going to skip class, I'd at least find something useful to do."  
  
"What, and making out with me isn't a useful waste of your time?" Nathan pretended to be hurt.  
  
"Fun? Yes. Useful..I'm not exactly sure." Haley trailed off and looked down the hall, then back at Nathan. There was no use fighting it, because in all honesty she didn't want to be in school at the moment. And to be even more honest, as much as she tried, she could never get enough of Nathan. What the hell. "You know what? You're just lucky your car has tinted windows." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the school.

* * *

"I can't believe you got me to skip school on my second day. My second day, Nathan!" Haley yelled, latching onto his arm as they walked to the parking lot.  
  
"Well you could always just go back in there. First period hasn't started yet."  
  
"I didn't say I wanted to go back." She laughed, feeling the guilt of skipping slowly melt away with each passing second. "Are they gonna call my mom?"  
  
"Who, the school?"  
  
"Uh huh." Haley nodded.  
  
"I doubt it. Perez never takes attendance so if we're back by second I doubt anybody is going to notice."  
  
They reached Nathan's car and Haley leaned against it, pulling at his shirt collar so that she could kiss him. "Well what if I don't wanna go back by second?" She pressed her lips to his harder, and giggled slightly as he fumbled with his keys.  
  
"Get in the car." He said huskily, opening the door to the back seat.  
  
"Mr. Scott, are you propositioning me?" She squealed as Nathan pushed her in and shut the door behind him. "See, now this is why I said you're lucky for having tinted windows."  
  
He smiled and brought her lips back to his, running his hands down her sides. The thrill of knowing they could get caught in the back of his mustang turned Haley on even more. She had never been so bold as to skip class and make out with somebody in their car. That's just what this guy did to her. And it was so early on in their relationship, that she wondered what was going on with herself. She was falling...and damn hard too.  
  
She let her head fall back as Nathan placed kisses along her neck and collarbone. Her whole brain was fuzzy. Usually, she was in control of her mind and her body. But at this point, all of that self control flew out the window. Her hands had a mind of their own. Because the next thing she knew, she was tugging at the bottom of his shirt and pulling it over his head.  
  
Throwing his shirt to the front of the car, Haley wrapped her arms around his neck and propped her legs up underneath her. She trailed kisses down his neck and chest, and stopped at his pecs. "This..." She said, flicking her tongue over the gold ring in his nipple. "Is very..very, sexy." Nathan let out a moan and Haley laughed, straddling his lap as she again pressed her swollen lips to his.  
  
He began to fumble with the zipper on the back of her shirt, and after a few seconds, successfully removed it from her body. It was thrown to the front of the car, landing near Nathan's, which was discarded only minutes earlier.  
  
He stopped for a moment to regain his composure. Softly, he brought his hands up to her face and ran his thumbs over her cheeks. Haley smiled under his touch, not being able to tear her eyes away from his.  
  
Nathan slid his index finger under her bra strap and pushed it off of her shoulder. She looked down at the spot where his fingers had just grazed and then met his lips once again, running her hand down his chest and stopping at the button on his jeans. She got it undone, and then went to the zipper, when she realized what she was doing. Abruptly, she pulled away from him. "I'm sorry I just-"  
  
Nathan looked at her, out of breath and confused. He motioned for her to continue.  
  
"I can't." Haley said softly, pulling her bra strap back up and leaning forward to pick up her shirt. She had to stop herself before things got too out of hand. She put her shirt back on and looked at him. "I'm sorry Nathan. I didn't mean to lead you on."  
  
"No, I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I shouldn't have done that."  
  
"It's just..." She stopped for a moment and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I wanted to, you know? But it's too early."  
  
"I understand."  
  
"But I didn't want you to think I didn't want that I just-"  
  
"Haley?"  
  
"Am I babbling?" She smiled slightly, her cheeks getting red.  
  
"Only a little." He reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head. "Don't worry about it, okay?"  
  
"Yeah." She said sadly, opening the car door. "Come on, we have to get back." 


	16. Chapter 16

"So did you get the new Britney CD? I heard it's good." Maddie asked casually, running a file over her nails.  
  
"That CD's been out for months." Haley answered, swiping a bottle of pink nail polish from in between the two of them.  
  
They were both lying on Haley's bed, manicuring their fingernails-something they'd always do when they had spare time.  
  
"Well sorry for trying to make friendly conversation. You just seem really quiet lately."  
  
"Yeah, I've just had a lot of stuff going on." She finished painting her final fingernail and blew on them, hoping to get the polish to dry quicker.  
  
Maddie sat up and set the file down next to her. "What kind of stuff?"  
  
"Guy stuff." Haley sighed.  
  
"By guy stuff, you mean Lucas."  
  
"Yeah-" She said, sounding a bit unsure.  
  
"So does this mean there's..more than one guy then?"  
  
Haley raised her eyebrows. "Since when have you been so nosy?"  
  
"Since you never tell me anything like you used to! I mean, you say you're pissed at Lucas but don't tell me why. Then I ask you if this whole guy stuff problem involves more than one guy and you don't give me a straight answer. I'm right to be bothered by this, correct? Because please tell me if I'm going off the deep end here."  
  
"You've been off the deep end since I met you."  
  
Maddie grabbed a pillow from beside her and chucked it at Haley's face. "Haley, come on! I'm seriously wiggin' about this! I feel like you don't trust me with your personal life anymore or something."  
  
"You know it's not like that." She rolled her eyes. "You made me knick my nails."  
  
"Well, cry me a river." Maddie over dramatized, once again picking up the nail file and running it over her thumb nail. "I'm sorry if I'm being a nudge."  
  
"You're not, I'm just being a bitch."  
  
"Yeah you are." Maddie mumbled, and received a playful slap from Haley.  
  
"Things have just been so screwed up with Lucas lately, and then-" Haley stopped for a second and Maddie looked at her.  
  
"And then...?" She was about to make a snide remark before something in the doorway caught her attention. "Mhhm, and then he happened." She softly said, discreetly pointing in the direction of Nathan.  
  
Haley turned around and smiled, then looked back at Maddie. "Yeah."  
  
"Well then I'll leave you two alone." She gathered her things and stood up, walking over to Haley and whispering in her ear. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."  
  
"Which is everything."  
  
Maddie winked and giggled, walking out of the room.  
  
"I'm not even going to ask what that conversation was about." Nathan walked over to Haley and gave her a small kiss.  
  
"Nothing of interest...to you at least." She watched as he sat down and gave her a questioning look. "Girl talk."  
  
Nathan nodded. "So, I was thinking we could spend some much needed quality time together."  
  
"Much needed quality time? We had a whole quality hour in the back seat of your car this morning."  
  
"You're saying I'm only entitled to an hour a day, then?"  
  
Haley laughed. "No, that's not what I'm saying. Way to twist my words, superstar."  
  
"You twisted them first."  
  
"Keep fighting with me and I'll be forced to pin you down."  
  
"Pin me down? That doesn't sound too bad.."  
  
Haley grinned evilly. "Pin you down and paint your nails. Maybe some lipstick, a little blush...you don't really need mascara, you have naturally curly eyelashes.."  
  
She watched as his face paled and he gulped. The look on his face was priceless. It was a classic Kodak moment. "Okay, okay sorry. I'm stopping."  
  
"Good." Haley smiled triumphantly. Carefully moving the numerous bottles of nail polish in front of her out of the way, she climbed over to Nathan and straddled his lap, "So, what kind of quality time did you have in mind?"  
  
"Return of Yoshi." He said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Video game."  
  
She pulled away from him and let her arms dangle loosely around his neck. "Okay, let me get this straight. You want me to play video games with you?" Nathan nodded. "Isn't that something you do with your buddies?"  
  
"It could be..." She smacked him on the shoulder, rolling her eyes. "Oh come on Haley! Yoshi is lonely!"  
  
"Yoshi can kiss my ass."  
  
"And I'm sure he'd love to."  
  
Haley removed herself from Nathan and went across the room to get her shoes. "I hate video games."  
  
"You won't hate my kind of video games." He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.  
  
"Why, is Yoshi a porn star freak or something?"  
  
"No. Let's just say I have some interesting gaming techniques." His coy response caused Haley to be the one to gulp.  
  
"Why does that scare me?"

* * *

Nathan and Haley entered the beach house and threw their coats to the ground, not bothering to hang them up. Or maybe it was because Nathan had never used a closet in his life. Either way, the articles of clothing were carelessly thrown onto the hardwood floor.  
  
"I would have taken you to the house but my dad is probably there and he's the last person I want to see." He went over to the fridge and opened it up, scanning the contents.  
  
"What's the deal with you and your dad, anyway?"  
  
Haley could see his back tense at the question. She figured it wasn't the best thing to ask him, considering every time she brought the man up an angry expression would creep onto his face.  
  
"We just don't get along." He handed her a bottle of water and walked out to the living room, with Haley in tow. "Okay, so change of plans. I just remembered Yoshi is at my house. Guess we're Mario Kart'n it."  
  
"Nathan, come on! Do we have to?" Haley couldn't help but whine. She hated video games.  
  
"It'll be fun, I promise."  
  
"Yeah, fun." She scoffed, plopping down next to him. Her eyes wandered over to gaming console. Damn Nintendo. She should have brought her sledgehammer with her so she could destroy it before Nathan kicked her butt in whatever they were playing. Mario something or other. "Give me this." She pulled the extra game controller out of his hand and started rapidly pressing the buttons. "What do each one of these do?"  
  
"Uh-uh..not yet. First, I need to explain the rules." That devilish smirk crept onto his face once again. Haley gulped. Wouldn't be the first time.  
  
"Okay, what? Am I not allowed to pick a certain little character to play? Do you want to be Princess Peach?" She teased as she looked through the display of characters to pick from._ So that's Yoshi. What a cute little green...thing._  
  
"I wouldn't be saying that right now. Because I'm brutal in these games. And judging by my rules, you're gonna want to not lose..."  
  
Haley's brow furrowed.  
  
"Unless of course, you like being naked."  
  
Her eyes widened as she heard his last comment. "Come again?"  
  
"Well, for every game you lose, you lose an article of clothing."  
  
"You didn't tell me this was strip Nintendo you dirt ball!" She smacked him in the back of the head.  
  
"What's wrong, you scared?" Nathan teased, dangling the controller in front of her face.  
  
"No, I'm not!" She said forcefully, grabbing the controller and pressing random buttons once again. "Now tell me what all of these do so I can kick your ass."  
  
He smirked. "You'll figure it out."  
  
"Nathan!"  
  
"I can't tell you. It's against my rules."  
  
"But I've never played a video game in my life. How the hell am I going to beat you if I don't even know what these little buttons do?"  
  
He looked over at her. She was so flustered. "That's kind of the point. You'll be naked before you know it."  
  
Haley's jaw dropped to the ground. "That is so not fair! I'm not getting naked in front of you!"  
  
"Why not, you did this morning."  
  
"That was different!" She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded.  
  
"Was not." Nathan looked back to the screen. "Come on, let's get this started."

* * *

"Take em off, buddy. Come on." Haley laughed as Nathan removed his pants. She threw her head back and let out a giggle as he growled, frustrated at his losing streak.  
  
"I thought you sucked at video games."  
  
"Well apparently I don't now, do I?" She focused her attention back to the screen as she raced her little car down an intricate obstacle course. "Ready to lose that shirt?"  
  
"You ready to lose those socks?" He asked as he put his full concentration on the game.  
  
"Nathan, you're not going to win. Plus the only thing I've had to take off were my sneakers when I lost that one game like an hour ago."  
  
"Damn it, Haley. Stop talking to me. You're going to make me screw up!" He bit his lower lip and feverishly pressed the buttons on his controller. "Go left little Yoshi, now go right!" He screamed, moving to the left and right as if he were in the car as well.  
  
"Stop talking to him! He's not real!"  
  
"Yeah, and that's why you were giving Princess Peach beauty tips. Because I could have sworn you thought she was real."  
  
"You know, this game makes you mean." She pouted, but then shrieked and jumped to her feet. "I beat you, I beat you! Come on Nathan, take it off!"  
  
"No!" He screamed, holding his shirt as tightly as he could to his body.  
  
"Aw what, mad you lost and you have to strip down to your man panties? Or should we play another round and you can lose them too?"  
  
"First of all, they're boxers. Not man panties. Second of all, I LET you win!" He stuck his tongue out.  
  
"You did not, you little liar!"  
  
"Uh huh, I did too. I felt bad so I let you win all those games."  
  
"You are the worst liar I've ever come across." She sat down and looked over at him. "Okay Mr. I can't lose, we'll have a sudden death round. We'll see if you're lying or not. And if you lose, off with the man panties."  
  
"Boxers!" He screamed.  
  
"Alright, alright. Boxers." She pressed the start button and smiled. "Let the games begin."

* * *

Haley was once again in the lead, with Nathan trailing shortly behind her. Or should it be..Princess Peach was once again in the lead with Yoshi trailing behind her? Whatever, you get the point.  
  
Much to Haley's surprise, video games were kind of fun. At least this one was. It's always fun to watch your boyfriend strip down after he loses about seven games to you. What probably makes it better is that you've never played a video game in your life and you still beat him. What could be better than that?  
  
"So, why am I winning this game again?" Haley asked, smirking.  
  
"Because I'm letting you."  
  
"No you're not! Stop saying that you sore loser!" It was clearly obvious that Nathan's video playing skills couldn't hold a candle to hers. He could have probably beat her at any other game, but she reigned supreme in this one. She had quite a knack for it.  
  
Wanting to play around with his head for a little bit, she pressed the pause button and threw the controller to the ground.  
  
"Hey! What did you do that for?"  
  
"Because in about five seconds I'm going to cream you again."  
  
Nathan frowned and realized that Haley was basically at the finish line.  
  
"But, I could be willing to bargain with you." She bit her bottom lip, causing Nathan to get scared. This girl was dangerous now that she had video gaming power.  
  
"And what kind of bargain did you have in mind?"  
  
"Well..." She put her finger to her lip and tapped on it gently, signaling that she was thinking. "You could take off the shirt..you know, the one that you SHOULD have taken off during the last game you lost, and I can just forget about everything else and let you win. Or, you could be stubborn like you always are and try to beat me. But if you don't, you have to take off the shirt AND the ma--boxers." She corrected herself before the dreaded man panties word slipped out again. "Take your pick."  
  
"What if I pick neither of them?"  
  
"Well you better pick one of the above because in three seconds, my finger is un-pausing that game and I'm high tailing it to the finish line."  
  
"Damn it why do you have to be so competitive about this?"  
  
"Um because..it was your idea to do this in the first place. Just because you suck doesn't mean you can dodge your own rules."  
  
"But those aren't my rules!" He whined.  
  
"Oh that's right. Oh well, they're my rules now. Mine are better anyway."  
  
Nathan glared at her. "Fine, you know what? I'm going to beat you. And If I do, you're taking off your pants, your shirt, AND your bra. Deal?"  
  
Haley couldn't help but laugh. Was he serious? There was no way he could possibly beat her at this point. "You're on, buddy. Just don't come crying to me when you lose."  
  
"We'll see about that." He un-paused the game and began to furiously throw things at Haley's car. The objects he was throwing were disabling her from making the short distance from the place she was currently at to the finish line.  
  
"You asked for it." She slickly threw a banana peel from her car, causing Nathan to slip on it and stall his time. "Take that!" She screamed as she crossed the finish line. "Oh yeah!"  
  
Nathan threw his arms angrily to the ground. "Aw man." He pulled off his shirt and slammed it on the ground as Haley danced around him.  
  
"Who's your daddy, Nathan!! WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!!" She laughed uncontrollably, watching as he went to pull down his boxers when she heard a noise coming from the doorway. There stood Dan Scott, arms crossed over his chest with an amused smirk on his face.  
  
Haley closed her eyes and reopened them, hoping that when she did he wouldn't be standing there anymore. No dice. She turned back to Nathan and squinted. "Guess that's your daddy." She said embarrassed, sitting back down and covering her face with her hands.  
  
"You know Nathan, you could have just come to the house and played that in your room where I had less of a chance of seeing you getting your ass kicked by a girl." Dan laughed sarcastically. "But I see it's too late for that."  
  
"Dad-" He started, not looking at him. It would make him want to jump the guy.  
  
"So this is the new flavor of the week" He looked at Haley. "Have fun with this one."  
  
Before Nathan could say anything, Dan left.  
  
"Ass hole." He mumbled, looking over at Haley. She was staring at the ground. "Haley.."  
  
"What did your dad mean? Do you have a new girlfriend every week or something?"  
  
"No. See, this is what he does!" He stated angrily. "He tries to play mind games with everybody and he keeps doing it because he knows it works!"  
  
Haley tucked her hair behind her ear. "I need to go." She got up and gathered her things.  
  
"Haley, don't."  
  
"No, it's okay. It's just..that was really embarrassing." She forced a smile.  
  
"You're mad at me aren't you?"  
  
"No." She answered quickly. "I just want to go home." 


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning came by quickly. Haley rolled herself out of bed, began her usual routine, and showed up at school just a bit early so she could get some help from her Science teacher. For being so smart, she sure was having some trouble doing simple equations in that damn class. Sine when did Science involve Math? Okay, stupid question.  
  
She sat down in her seat, waiting patiently for the teacher to arrive. Figures, the one-day she's early, the teacher is late. He's NEVER late. She must have had a black cloud over her head. That had to be it.  
  
"Wow, you're early today." Peyton said, sitting down next to her.  
  
"Oh hey. Yeah, I need some help with this stuff." She motioned to her textbook and sighed.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
Haley looked at her. She didn't exactly know Peyton, and wasn't too close with her, but she had to ask her something. And judging by the questions, she was just the person to ask.  
  
"Let me ask you a question."  
  
Peyton nodded. "Sure, what's up?"  
  
"How long did you and Nathan go out for again? Sorry, I forgot." Haley bit her lip in anticipation. _Please don't say something like a week..or two weeks...  
_  
Setting her sight on the ceiling, Peyton counted quickly in her mind. "About a year. Why?"  
  
Haley let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. "Well, we had a little encounter with his dad yesterday."  
  
"Oh God that must have been fun." Peyton rolled her eyes. "Did he send you death glares?"  
  
"Not really, but he said something that kind of disturbed me." Peyton nodded for her to go on. "He called me flavor of the week."  
  
Peyton laughed. "Who the hell says that?"  
  
"I don't know, but it upset me. I mean, does Nathan play a lot of girls or something? Because that's what his dad made it sound like."  
  
"Haley, you don't know Dan Scott. He loves to make people miserable. And as far as I know, Nathan hasn't gone out with anybody since we broke up..which was like three months ago. And even before we went out, he didn't go out with a lot of people. Unless you want to count random hook-ups then I can't help you there because I never asked."  
  
"Well thanks Peyton, that makes me feel better." She said sarcastically.  
  
"You know what I mean. Haley, he really likes you. I can tell. He never acted the way he acts around you with me and we were going out for a long time. Trust me."  
  
"His dad just creeped me out."  
  
"He creeps everyone out. It's part of his charm...or lack there of."  
  
Haley looked over at the clock. The bell would be ringing in a minute. Joy. "Why is he so mean?"  
  
"Such a question has plagued Tree Hill for years. I have no freaking' clue and I don't plan on finding out any time soon."  
  
The sound of the bell caused Haley to put her attention on the door where students started filing into the classroom. She hadn't seen Nathan, but he was usually the last one in so she didn't worry herself.  
  
After a few minutes, she saw him walk through the door and take the seat next to her.  
  
"Hey." She whispered, as he turned his head to look at her. "I'm sorry about yesterday."  
  
"You're not mad at me still, are you?"  
  
"Nathan, I wasn't mad at you. Your dad-"  
  
"Don't pay attention to my dad, he's an ass." He brushed off her previous comment and removed his textbook from his bag. "Do you need a ride home from school today?"  
  
And there he went again, changing the subject. But Haley just let it go. She didn't want to start a fight. "Yeah, if you don't mind."  
  
He smiled at her. "Do I ever mind?"  
  
"Well considering that you've been my personal taxi for the past few days, I'm starting to think I'm taking advantage of you." She said playfully.  
  
"Take advantage of me all you want. I don't care."  
  
"Yeah, I bet."

* * *

"Alright, alright..settle down." The teacher walked to her desk and put her briefcase down, looking up to survey the room. "Ms. Watson, this is an English class not a nunnery. I won't have you bribing Mr. Palmer with sexual favors. Sit." She pointed at the girl and she reluctantly slinked back into her seat.  
  
Haley had to say that if it weren't for Lucas, this would be her favorite class. The teacher was hilarious, pretty down to Earth, and just an all around cool person. Haley was fairly good at English too, so it allowed her to enjoy it a lot more than most of the people in the class did.  
  
She had gotten through her first three periods nervously awaiting the one she was currently in. About five broken/chewed off nails later, she was sitting in her desk waiting for her name to be called. This assignment was so incredibly dumb. But of course she would say that. She was paired up with Lucas.  
  
"Alright, let's get started." The teacher walked to the back of the room and sat down in a nearby desk. "Would anybody like to volunteer to go first?"  
  
Immediately, all heads were looking down. Face it, nobody likes going first. This was no exception. First rule; never make eye contact with said teacher. Well, that went for any teacher..but especially this one. You look her in the eye, and you're done for. But since she was in the back of the room, they were all safe...for now.  
  
Haley nervously twirled a strand of hair around her finger and chewed on her lower lip. This was like torture. _Just pick a name, damn it. Run your old, wrinkly finger down the class list and pick a stupid name.  
_  
"Okay how about Ms. James and Mr. Scott."  
  
_Not my name, damn you!_ Could she never win? When she said pick a name, she didn't mean her name. It was times like these when she wished she had some kind of telepathic mind powers.  
  
Haley reluctantly got out of her seat, with Lucas trailing behind her. She turned to face the crowd and froze. She hated public speaking. And to be quite honest, acting out a stupid skit in front of her English class didn't make her feel any better. She was embarrassed.  
  
"You two can begin whenever you're ready."  
  
There was that feeling again. All eyes on her. And well on Lucas too of course, but she felt like she was the only one up there. It was so unnerving.  
  
She turned to Lucas and sucked in a heavy breath. "Hope you have all your lines memorized."  
  
"Whatever. Let's just get this over with."  
  
"Right." Haley cleared her throat. Modern day Romeo and Juliet, here comes Haley James. Yeah, and here comes some insanely cheesy dialogue to go along with it. "I can't see you anymore. I get caught sneaking out one more time and I'm grounded for a month." Oh Christ, this was the stupidest thing she's ever had to do in her entire life.  
  
"Well then I'll come and see you." Lucas said blandly, shoving his hands in his pockets  
  
_Come on, Lucas. At least try to put a little spunk into it. I'm not asking you to wiz your damn pants for crying out loud._ "But you remember what happened last time."  
  
"Oh you mean the time where I got caught, grounded, and then you snuck around behind my back with my brother?"  
  
Wait, back up a minute. That wasn't in the damn script they wrote! What was he trying to pull?  
  
Haley hesitated for a moment as the rest of the class' ears perked up. She tried her best to get back on track again. _What's the next line, what's the next line.... _Oh screw it. She didn't have a line in her script to retort to that one.  
  
"You make it sound like you and I were going out, Lucas. God, why can't you just grow up?"  
  
"Isn't his name supposed to be Romeo?" A blonde girl leaned over and whispered into her friend's ear.  
  
"Aren't Romeo and Juliet supposed to be going out?" She whispered back. The blonde shrugged. "All I know is that they both die in the end. I'm so confused." They both turned their attention back to the front of the class.  
  
"Maybe YOU'RE the one who should grow up, Haley." Lucas snapped, pointing his finger in her face.  
  
"Oh right. You're honestly telling me that I need to grow up. Hello, is nobody home in there? You're acting like a complete jackass!"  
  
"Yeah? Well you're a backstabber!"  
  
"You are SO lucky we're in class or I'd kick you in your crotchal area Lucas, I swear!"  
  
"Um excuse me?" The blonde girl yelled, raising her hand. When the two continued fighting, she cleared her throat loudly. "Excuse me, I have a question. Excuse me?"  
  
"Shut up!" They both screamed at her, causing half the class to gasp at their sudden outburst. Damn they were loud. But the teacher was in the back of the room jotting down notes. Was she blind or something? Or maybe deaf?  
  
"Great, now that you screwed up what we were supposed to be doing, do you care to redeem yourself before we get a zero for this stupid assignment?" Haley whispered angrily.  
  
"Yeah, you know what? I do!" Lucas pulled Haley over to him and kissed her hard on the lips.  
  
She pulled away suddenly. "What the hell was that?!"  
  
By now, the whole class had their eyes glued to the two. If it wasn't for Lucas and Haley's incessant bickering, you could hear a pin drop.  
  
"You know what that was, Haley. Don't play dumb with me."  
  
"Man, this is confusing the hell out of me. Why did Juliet get all pissed about Romeo kissing her if they're going out?" The blonde whispered to her friend again.  
  
She shrugged. "Something about his brother. Dysfunctional family issues I guess."  
  
"You can't just do that! I have a boyfriend!" Haley screamed.  
  
The room gasped.  
  
"Juliet is two-timing Romeo!" A boy from the back of the room yelled.  
  
"I was never with Romeo to begin with!" Haley stomped her feet on the ground, emphasizing her point.  
  
"Okay, now I'm REALLY confused!" The blonde screamed out, causing a girl next to her to roll her eyes.  
  
"Typical blonde. Romeo is mad at Juliet because she's hooking up with his brother behind his back. But Romeo has a major thing for Juliet, and Juliet wants no part in it."  
  
"Right. I knew that." The blonde said, embarrassed.  
  
"Why him, Haley? Huh? You could have any guy you want and you choose him."  
  
"I'm not going through this again, okay? I like him, he likes me. I-LIKE- NATHAN. End of story!"  
  
The class froze, then registered the name in their heads, and then broke out into a fit of commotion. Nathan and Lucas. Lucas and Haley. Nathan and Haley.  
  
"Holy Shit. Nathan is Romeo's brother! Juliet's two-timing Romeo with Nathan!" The same boy in the back of the room yelled, causing Haley to put her hand over her mouth. She just blurted out what she shouldn't have.  
  
"That's it, I'm done." Lucas threw his hands up in the air and walked over to the door. "Romeo has left the building!" He screamed, before slamming the door behind him.  
  
There stood Haley, in front of the room, by herself, with twenty pairs of eyes staring at her..questioning her with their glances. What was with the freaking third degree here?  
  
She fidgeted for a second before grabbing her school bag and easing over to the door. "Uh yeah, bye." She said quickly, running out.  
  
The class stared at the door for a minute, not fully being able to register what happened.  
  
"A!" The teacher stood up, screaming, and clapping. But Lucas and Haley were nowhere in sight.

* * *

Haley stormed down the empty hallway in search of Lucas. She was fuming, and she wasn't exactly sure if it was because he screwed up their skit or because he kissed her. She should have smacked him across the face, THAT'S what she should have done.  
  
He couldn't have been that far away from her. He had only left a few seconds before she did.  
  
"Lucas!" She screamed, quickening her pace down the hallway. "Lucas Scott, get your ass out here right now! I'm not done with you yet!" She gasped as she was pulled by the arm into a nearby dark closet. "What the hell?!"  
  
"Damn it Haley, keep your voice down." The voice sneered.  
  
"Why should I keep my voice down, Lucas? You just pulled me into a creepy, dark janitors closet!"  
  
"Well this is the only place where I can fight with you in peace."  
  
"You do realize how stupid that sounded." She rolled her eyes and went for the door when he grabbed her arm. "You know, you really have to stop doing that."  
  
He disregarded her comment. "We need to settle this."  
  
"I've tried to settle it already. And I'm done trying. You are so impossible to get along with anymore, Luke! I don't know what else to do to get you to forgive me."  
  
Lucas looked away from her. "Stop seeing him."  
  
"I can't do that." She folded her arms across her chest and looked down at the ground. "When I'm with him, I'm happy. Happier than I've been in a long time. I'm not giving that up."  
  
"I thought you were happy, when it was just me and you."  
  
Haley sighed. "I was lonely."  
  
"How could you have possibly been lonely, Haley? Because I don't understand the logic in that."  
  
"Luke, we're best friends. We always have been..since we were little, you know that. But there was always that emptiness that you just couldn't fill. And now I finally have somebody to fill it."  
  
"Did you sleep with him?"  
  
Haley's eyes widened. Was that even any of his business? "Lucas-"  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"No, okay? No, I didn't."  
  
"Surprising." He scoffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?' She retorted.  
  
"I just figured you two would have...you know, by now."  
  
"You really must not think much of me then, huh?" She was beginning to raise her voice higher than she already previously had.  
  
"No, I don't think much of him."  
  
"You know Luke; he's a lot different than you think he is. You of all people should understand that."  
  
"Right, I should try to understand that he's a different person after all the sh it he's done to me. Maybe he's different with you, but that's as far as it goes. He's an ass." He looked down at the ground and shifted his feet nervously. "I just want my best friend back."  
  
"I'm right here. I've been here the whole time. You just kept pushing me away. I don't know what else to say to you."  
  
When he didn't answer her back, Haley shook her head and went for the door. She didn't understand him anymore. He said he missed her, yet she did everything in her power to have him forgive her and he kept refusing. Like she said, she was done trying.  
  
She reached for the door handle and turned it when she felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned around slowly, trying to avoid further confrontation, but knew at this point, it was inevitable.  
  
Before she knew it, he was kissing her. And the worst part was, she was kissing him back.  
  
Haley felt his arms snake around her waist and tighten. Instinctively, she wrapped her own arms around his neck and brought his head down closer to her. Then the realization of what she was doing hit her like a Mac truck.  
  
She was kissing Lucas. She was dating Nathan. What the hell was she thinking?  
  
She pulled away as quickly as she could and nervously looked at anything but him. How could she have been so stupid? And with Lucas of all people?  
  
"Okay, let me get this straight. You're pissed at me, yet you have no problem shoving your tongue down my throat?" She screamed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.  
  
"Well you had no objection to it, Hales." Lucas retorted.  
  
"Oh yes I did! I pulled away from you."  
  
"Yeah, after a good five minutes."  
  
She stopped for a second, furiously tucking random strands of hair behind her ears. Always the one with the nervous habits. "I don't understand you anymore, Luke."  
  
He dragged his hand through his hair, letting it fall back down to his side. "You've always known I liked you..since we were ten."  
  
"And I thought you said you were over it when we were 11!" She interjected before he could finish his sentence.  
  
"Yeah? Well I lied." He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his back to her. "When I saw you with him Haley, I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. I really did."  
  
"So this is why you've been such an ass lately, isn't it."  
  
Lucas nodded his head. He didn't bother to turn around. He couldn't even look at her. "I didn't want you with him..." He took a deep breath, calming himself down. "Because I wanted to be with you. And I knew I couldn't."  
  
It was then that he turned around and saw tears streaming down her face. He never had any intention of making her cry.. But it seemed he was doing just that. And unfortunately, doing a good job at it too.  
  
"If it was anybody else I would have just let you go and dealt with it. But because it was him..I just, I couldn't let him have the chance to hurt you. After all he's done to me I didn't want you to be so vulnerable to him."  
  
"I told you, he's not like that." She said through gritted teeth.  
  
"And how do you know that for sure, Haley? You haven't even known the guy for that long and you automatically assume that he-"  
  
"Because I love him!" Haley couldn't even believe the own words that escaped from her mouth. She wasn't even thinking it, she just blurted it out. But it was true. She did love Nathan. She loved him enough in this short amount of time to trust him..to know that he would never hurt her like Lucas kept trying to convince her he was going to do.  
  
Lucas froze in his tracks. "Haley, no.."  
  
She brushed a stray tear from her cheek. "That's the way it is. I love him. And if you can't accept that then-"  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"Then you have no reason to be a part of my life anymore." Haley watched as his eyes found their way to the ground. "I have to go." She whispered, trying fiercly to fight back her tears.  
  
This time, Lucas made no attempt to stop her.

* * *

It had been four hours since her confrontation with Lucas. Four hours that she had been sitting in the same bathroom stall crying. It didn't even faze her that she was skipping her classes. She couldn't bare to be near people at the moment for fear that she would break down and cry.  
  
Since when had life become so complicated? It was just a few weeks ago that she was happy and...normal. Now everything was just a whirlwind of confusion, and Haley was stuck in the middle of it.  
  
She felt disgusted with herself for kissing Lucas. More disgusted with him for initiating it, but just as sick to her stomach that she played along. She couldn't shake the image of Nathan's face out of her mind the whole time she was in that bathroom. It just kept playing in her head over and over again. She didn't want to bare the brunt of that guilt. More importantly, she didn't want Nathan to have to go through the anger and sadness of knowing that she did it.  
  
She couldn't tell him. Not even if it killed her. And she couldn't let anybody else tell him either.  
  
Hearing the shrill sound of the bell signaling the end of the school day, Haley wiped her tear stained cheeks with some toilet paper and nonchalantly walked out of the bathroom, hoping to God that nobody could tell she was crying.  
  
She made her way out to the parking lot and stood there for a couple of moments, looking around for where Nathan's car was normally parked. It wasn't there. Great, he probably found out about what happened earlier and decided to leave her stranded there for hours as punishment.  
  
Haley walked around to the front of the school. Grabbing her cell phone from her bag, she searched through the list of names until she came upon her mothers. She was about to press the send button when she heard a car horn beep. Immediately, she let out a huge breath she didn't even realize she was holding when she spotted Nathan in front of her. She smiled and ran over to the car, getting in and quickly shutting the door.  
  
"I thought you left me." She answered, putting on her seat belt.  
  
"No, sorry I should have had somebody tell you. I had to leave early. My dad set up some basketball meeting with this scout and pulled me out of school around fourth period." He said it almost resentfully. It was evident he wasn't happy with his father's actions.  
  
"Oh."  
  
Nathan looked over at her and took in her restless figure. She didn't seem to be herself. "You okay?"  
  
Haley tilted her head up and smiled. "Mhm yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired." Liar she thought. Why don't you just go and lie some more? You seem to be good at it lately.  
  
"Oh that sucks. I'm having another party at the beach house tonight after the game and wanted you to come."  
  
"Nathan you know how the whole party thing worked the last time." She tried to get herself out of the whole situation. However, it didn't seem like it was going to end in her favor.  
  
"Yeah, I do." He smirked. "I'd say it worked out pretty good."  
  
"Well."  
  
"Well what?" He asked, puzzled.  
  
"The party worked out well. Not good."  
  
"So you agree?"  
  
"No! I was correcting your grammar." She laughed, unbuckling her seat belt. "Don't wear yourself out too much before the game tonight. You'll play like crap."  
  
"What about after the game?" He teased as he leaned over to kiss her. She turned her cheek before he could reach her lips. She couldn't kiss him. Not after what happened with Lucas. She felt completely awful and if she were to kiss him, she'd be cheating even more. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Oh uh, I think I'm coming down with something. I don't want you to get it." Haley watched as he nodded and smiled. "I'll see you at the game. I'll think about the party."  
  
She kissed him lightly on the cheek, even feeling bad about that small gesture. Damn her and her guilt stricken sorrows. She had to get out of that car. It felt as though it was smothering her.  
  
"You're sure you're okay?" Nathan asked one last time before she could completely exit the car.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be okay." She stepped out and closed the door, waving to him as she walked up her driveway. God, what had she done? 


	18. Chapter 18

"And the score is 46 to 43. There's only 10 seconds left in the game ladies and gentlemen. Ravens really need to step it up if they want to win this. At this point, anything goes."  
  
Haley rolled her eyes as Mouth blabbered on about the score, her eyes traveling aimlessly down the length of the court. Don't get the wrong idea, she loved Mouth. She just hated his lack of sanity at times. Her mood was pretty much shot at this point, so all she wanted to do was take that little microphone out of his hand and shove it up his butt.  
  
But as usual, she contained herself as she watched the figure of her boyfriend dribble the ball down the court, only to get pummeled by a player on the opposing team. It was a sure thing that by the end of the game, if he didn't make a shot to tie this thing up, he would be cranky as hell.  
  
Haley bit her lip, feeling the tension inside of her bubble up. She wasn't quite sure though if it was because of the game, or because she couldn't fight the guilt that was reaming through her brain. No, it definitely wasn't the game...even though that's what it seemed. The room felt as though it was 90 degrees. Haley could feel the sweat dripping off of her back and soaking into the material of her t-shirt. Why oh why didn't she just stay home and watch TV?  
  
The answer to that question was simple. Nathan. He was the whole reason why she showed up. It was just that she felt so shitty about what happened earlier with Lucas that she didn't even feel like she deserved to be there.  
  
Nathan quickly called a time out and jogged over to where the rest of his team quickly assembled, flashing Haley a smile and waving. She waved back and quickly looked down at the ground. God, she was awful.  
  
"And with five seconds left in the game ladies and gentlemen, it's going to take a miracle for the Ravens to win this one. Looks like their winning streak may come to an end tonight."  
  
Damn that boy and his pesky little microphone. He was going to be waddling in a few minutes if he didn't quit it with that stupid sports announcement crap. Haley tried as best as she could to block him out. She was so on edge that it was taking a toll on her tolerance.  
  
"1..2..3..RAVENS!" The team shouted, panning out into their assigned spots on the court. Nathan looked up at the scoreboard and closed his eyes. This was it. He either had to tie this thing up or they lost.  
  
The time started back up again and Tim threw the ball to Nathan. He quickly shot from the three point line, closing his eyes once again only to hear a swoosh go through the air.  
  
"And it's a tie! Nathan Scott has tied the game!"  
  
The boy was a walking miracle. Nobody thought he'd actually make it in, considering how drained he was from the amount of points he had scored throughout the whole game.  
  
Nobody knew what was going to happen. He'd either miss, and lose the game for his whole team, or he'd make it in and victory would be theirs...again. It was pretty much a sure thing that Nathan would make the winning basket. He always did.  
  
"And we are now in overtime. Nathan Scott has one last chance to win this for his team. If he misses? Well, let's just say the perfect winning streak will be gone. It surely will be a loss for the team, as well as Coach Durham."  
  
"Come on, Nathan!" Haley screamed as loudly as she could. Where had that sudden burst of energy come from? Oh well, she wasn't complaining. She jumped up in the air with the rest of the crowd. "Come on, baby. You can do it." She whispered.  
  
"Here we go. Tim Smith with the ball. He passes to Jake Jagielski, who passes to Nathan Scott. Scott has the ball...Oh and intercepted by Lucas Scott!"  
  
The next thing Haley saw was Lucas running past Nathan, grabbing the ball out of his hands and running down the court. What the hell was he doing? Nathan was about ready to shoot and it was ripped away from him.  
  
"Scott shoots..."  
  
The crowd held their breaths, afraid that if they exhaled, the game would be lost. Lucas stole the ball from Nathan and if he didn't make it in, all hell was going to break loose. It wouldn't be a pretty picture.  
  
It seemed to be in slow motion as the ball sank through the net and slammed onto the gymnasium floor. The crowd erupted in cheers as the players all went to Lucas and threw him up in the air.  
  
"And makes it! Ravens win 48 to 46! What a game!"  
  
Nathan grabbed the ball and slammed it to the ground. That was supposed to be HIS shot. HIS game. That bastard just came out of nowhere and stole it from him. He could have lost the game for them and then they would have really been in trouble. But of course, he got praise for it. Just like always.  
  
He could feel the chunks rise in his throat. He was going to puke at the sight of Lucas being lavished with compliments. And what would Nathan get? Oh, he knew what he was going to get. A lecture from his father about not making that winning shot. He wouldn't stop hearing about it for months.  
  
He stomped angrily into the locker room, slamming the door shut behind him.  
  
Haley watched from the bleachers. It was going to be one hell of a night.

* * *

She had been sitting on the same set of bleachers for the past half hour, waiting for Nathan to come out. He was probably showering, then starting a fight with Lucas. That was the most obvious conclusion she could come to.  
  
She looked over to her left to see Dan staring impatiently at his watch. He was also waiting for Nathan, and he'd probably get to him first. The bad thing was, after he got to him, Nathan would be in an even worse mood than he was currently in.  
  
With all the crap Nathan had to put up with, the most logical thing to do would be to lay off of him. However, Dan Scott would have none of it. In the short time Haley knew Nathan, she knew enough to see how much the man badgered his own son into being the best. And if he wasn't the best, he just wasn't good enough. It made her sick to her stomach the way he treated him sometimes.  
  
Haley became startled as she heard the slam of a door, seeing Nathan stomping his way over to her.  
  
"Come on, let's go." He said coldly. Dan started to walk over but Nathan quickly grabbed Haley's hand, pulling her out of the gym as quickly as he could.  
  
"What about your dad?" She looked behind her only to hear Dan start to yell for Nathan, but he brushed off her statement.  
  
"He'll live." He pushed the doors to the parking lot open roughly, causing Haley to flinch. She had never seen him this mad before. All she could do was nod. She didn't want to say anything. It seemed like the tiniest word would set him off.  
  
They both walked over to his car and got in. Haley felt so awkward; she didn't know what to do. What exactly do you say when your boyfriend is pissed off about something that was extremely important to him?  
  
"So uh, good game." _Yeah, not that_. She was a dumb ass.  
  
She saw him tense up and grip the steering wheel harder. It was always evident when he was mad. He would bite his bottom lip and narrow his eyes. And yup, there it was. The infamous lip bite. Great job, chief. What an excellent thing to say at a time like this.  
  
"I f ucked up."  
  
"No you didn't, Nathan. You did great."  
  
"Not great enough, okay?" He yelled.  
  
Haley slumped down in her seat. Maybe she should just ask him to take her home. That way, she can avoid any other disastrous things that were bound to happen at the party.  
  
"I don't see why you're so pissed. You made almost every shot during that whole game." Why did she keep opening her big mouth? It was like she was subconsciously egging him on. The words just kept dripping out and she couldn't stop them. In a way she just wanted him to realize that he did a great job, regardless of what his father said or thought.  
  
"Yeah Haley, but I didn't make the one shot that counted. That's what I'm so pissed about." His tone was still harsh. Definitely harsher than Haley would like to have heard. She wasn't used to him being this upset. Normally, he'd be stressed out, but in a few minutes he'd be back to his normal self. Today didn't seem like one of those days.  
  
"It's not the end of the world. So, you'll make it next time."  
  
"No, it is the end of the world. Don't you get it? When I go home my dad is going to practically beat the shit out of me!" His face softened a bit after he realized how harsh his tone was and he calmed his voice a bit. "I should have made that shot."  
  
Haley just shook her head. She didn't want to say anything else for fear that he would lash out and do something crazy. It wasn't like she was making it better by talking, anyway. Her best bet was to keep quiet and in return he'd remain calm.  
  
She really wanted to go home. Preferably take him with her and work him out of this stage of misery he was in, but that thought quickly vanished once they pulled up to the beach house. Being at a party was the last thing she wanted to do. Especially now, since she wasn't on good terms with Lucas, definitely wasn't on the best of terms with Nathan, and didn't know anybody else. People didn't dislike her, she just never really made an attempt to befriend anybody else other than Peyton. And she wasn't exactly too close to her either.  
  
Nathan sulked out of the car and slammed the door behind him, Haley following suit. She was in a worse mood now than she was before. Nathan was pissed at her, or at least that's what it seemed like.  
  
The house was already filled with people. Most of the team was already there, and they made their presence known by being their usual, rowdy selves. A few of them were already sprawled out on the grass, moaning due to excessive drinking. Some people just didn't know their limits.  
  
Once again, that feeling of being overwhelmed invaded Haley's senses. The last time she went to one of Nathan's parties was..well, that was when it all began. The good and the bad. She didn't know if she wanted to walk in there and take the chance of new things happening all over again, or if she just wanted to sit in Nathan's car all night and wait for him to take her home.  
  
"Nathan I-" She was about to protest. To tell him that she wasn't too comfortable around all these people. That maybe it would be best if he just took her home or if she called somebody to pick her up.  
  
Sensing her uneasiness, he quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him into the house. The sounds of the music and loud chatter of the people inside caused her to walk closer to him, holding his waist as they waded through the large crowds. The last thing Haley needed was to get lost. She'd never find him in the crowd if he were to walk away.  
  
Nathan's grip tightened on her hand, yet he still didn't utter a single word. They just continued to walk through the sea of already drunken people. Haley felt so little. Sure she wasn't too tall, but that wasn't it. She felt inferior to these people. She felt like she was invading their space. She was the new girl. Although she was currently labeled as 'Nathan Scott's girlfriend', that didn't make it any easier to fit in.  
  
Feeling Nathan's hand leave hers, Haley looked up at him as he motioned to the other side of the room. She felt his hand reach the small of her back, guiding her to exactly where he wanted her to go.  
  
The right hand corner of the room was basically the only spot not inhabited by people. That little piece of confinement was like her safety net. She didn't feel like she was being invaded by drunk lunatics.  
  
Music loudly blared from a nearby speaker and Haley had to resist not covering her ears. It was far too loud for her liking. She had a splitting headache already and the pounding beats from the awful rap song wasn't making it any better.  
  
Nathan bent down to whisper in her ear and she automatically closed her eyes. She loved the feeling of him so close to her. And right now, that's just what she needed. She knew she wasn't going to enjoy herself tonight. But if he was with her, she could at least try.  
  
"I'm going to get a drink. Do you want something?"  
  
She nodded and leaned her head back against the wall. Maybe some alcohol would calm her down. Maybe it would calm him down too. He was obviously still a bit short tempered with her. But he couldn't have been that mad if he opted to stay with her instead of mingle with his buddies.  
  
"Stay here. Don't move." He said sternly, giving her hand a light squeeze and trudging through the crowd.  
  
Poor guy, he was miserable. Haley felt his pain. She was just as melancholy..for totally different reasons though. Reasons that she didn't want him to know of. And her reasons were by far a lot worse than his were.  
  
A cup was dangled in her face from behind her and she smiled. "That was fast." She said, turning around..only to see Lucas standing there. Her smile quickly faded.  
  
Before he could say anything, Haley turned the other way so she didn't have to look at him. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to come to this party after the stunts he pulled over the past couple days.  
  
"So you're going to ignore me all night." It came out like a comment rather than a question.  
  
"You had no problem ignoring me for the past two weeks so why should I choose to do any different to you?"  
  
"Haley, don't do this."  
  
"Don't do what, Luke?" She yelled, turning around. "What, try my best to ignore you so you don't screw up my relationship with my boyfriend? Oh no wait, you already did that."  
  
"Don't make me look like the bad guy here, Hales."  
  
Haley's jaw dropped. "Oh so what, you're saying I'm the bad guy in all this?"  
  
"No, I'm saying we're both equally at fault."  
  
"Oh no. No, no, no.._we_ are not both equally at fault. _You _are the one who started this whole thing, not me." She pointed her finger in his face and he backed up against the wall. "This whole thing started because you felt like being a jack ass."  
  
"That's not true."  
  
Haley gave a sarcastic laugh. "You know that it's so true, Lucas. Don't even try to feign innocence with me because it's not going to work. I am this close to ripping your face off and trust me, you don't want that."  
  
She saw Lucas' eyes gaze past her head and out to the crowd as he looked back down at her and stalked off. _Damn it, just one punch. That's all I wanted. Just one good swing and I'd be alright._  
  
Turning back around, she saw Nathan coming towards her, that look of anger plastered on his features. It seemed like he couldn't shake that look tonight. Everything that happened pushed him closer and closer to the edge.  
  
"What was that all about?"  
  
Haley could tell he was extremely mad. "Nothing." She plucked the drink out of his hand, taking a sip and letting the cold liquor burn down her throat.  
  
"It didn't look like nothing." He shifted his weight onto his other leg and looked at her impatiently. He wanted an answer. And it was nagging at her to just come clean and spill everything that happened earlier that brought about the prior confrontation with Lucas.  
  
"He was being an ass, alright? Now can we please just end the story?" That's great. She had to get an attitude. It wasn't that she was mad at him to bring about that sudden outburst; she was just trying to cover up from spilling her little secret.  
  
They were both on edge. Nathan slammed his empty cup on the ground and looked away. "Whatever."  
  
"Baby, I'm sorry." She reached out to touch his arm but he pulled away from her. "Nathan.."  
  
He shook his head as he looked up at the ceiling. Haley knew that him seeing her with Luke was just the icing on the cake. He was upset about what Luke had did to him earlier in the game, and with all the crap he would have to deal with when his dad got to him, that seeing the two of them together made him feel even worse.  
  
"Find me when you're ready to go home." He answered plainly, walking into the mess of people.  
  
Haley groaned and threw her head against the wall..repeatedly. She had officially ruined the rest of her night, along with Nathan's. Why was she being such a bitch?  
  
She raked her hands through her hair and chugged the remainder of her cup, throwing it down onto the floor  
  
"Where's the damn keg?" 


	19. Chapter 19

The smell of weed and tobacco filled the now thick air in the house, music was cranked up to the point where the windows were about to shatter, bodies were grinding up against one another in a drunken attempt at dry humping, and Haley James was...drunk.  
  
It didn't faze her that she was chugging straight from a bottle of vodka, which had undoubtedly become her new best friend. Now, she hadn't exactly had any pleasant experiences with her good buddy vodka the last time she was at a party. But this time, she was determined to make it up to him. Yes, she had granted Mr. Vodka the honor of being male. Why? She had no idea. She was drunk! Nothing made sense at this point, so she wasn't going to question herself.  
  
Haley took another sip and swayed from side to side. Maybe she could pass this off as a new dance move instead of a lack of posture and poise due to excessive alcohol consumption. Yeah, maybe not.  
  
Part of her wished Nathan would come along and take the bottle away from her so she didn't do any further damage to her liver. Then another part of her wanted to slap him upside the head because he was the reason why she was drinking like this. Well, she had Lucas to blame too but Nathan was part of it.  
  
All this thinking was making her head hurt. And that caused her to take yet another sip of the clear liquid. She squinted as the substance burned down her throat. All she had to do was put the bottle down and walk away..or stagger away because she was pretty sure at this point, walking would be quite a chore. Or maybe she could just switch to beer. Scotch maybe? Schnapps? A strawberry daquiri for Christ's sake. Mr. Vodka was no longer her friend.  
  
She felt stupid. This wasn't her..drowning her problems with alcohol. There were people in this world with far more problems than Haley James. What gave her any right to think otherwise? So, her best friend turned into a psychotic man beast and her boyfriend just ups and leaves her for the night..due to the psychotic man beast's actions, of course. Should she really demoralize herself by drinking like a fish? Hell yeah.  
  
_Just one more sip. One more sip and you put the bottle DOWN_. That's the way it was all night. It was just one more sip and she'd stop. That was clearly about fifteen sips ago. And it was around that time where she noticed purple fairies dancing on the ceiling. Now blue and pink fairies joined the mix and they were performing a scene straight out of River Dance. Oh, those talented fairies.  
  
Haley was almost tempted to join them but then realized that she lacked the ability to get onto the ceiling. Silly Haley, ceilings are for fairies..not drunk hoe bags who cheat on their boyfriends with psycho man beast best friends.  
  
She scoffed at her stupid mind games and put the bottle down on the counter. No good would come out of having any more of that vodka. Besides, she had to stop now before she wound up getting her stomach pumped. Yeah, that was _exactly_ what her mother would love to see.  
  
It was playing in her mind now. The way her mother would introduce her to guests. "And this is my daughter Haley. The drunk lunatic who likes to drink to the point where she pisses alcohol! Isn't she just ducky?"  
  
By now the rest of the alcohol was obviously setting in because never in her right mind would Haley's mother use the word 'ducky'. She wanted to smack herself for thinking of such an insane scenario but unfortunately, she wasn't sure if her head was still attached to her body.  
  
Maybe she should just lie down for a second....  
  
On second thought, no. Not after she just saw some kid throw his guts up right onto the carpet. Oh and what a lovely shade of pink it was. It matched perfectly with the jacket she had on. Call in Christopher Lowell, ladies and gentlemen. Or maybe a fashion consultant from the E! Entertainment channel. Haley James has officially found a color that will match with vomit. Now who says bodily fluids can't look good on what you wear?  
  
The pounding in her head began to increase and Haley rubbed her fingers over her eyes. She needed to find Nathan. Not only to ask him to take her home but to tell him everything..dish out every single thing that happened between her and Lucas. The guilt was just going to keep boiling up inside of her until it exploded so it was better to get it out now.  
  
Of course she didn't realize the fact that she was drunk, her inhibitions were lowered, and she was about to say something monumental to her boyfriend-who definitely wouldn't take it too well. Maybe he was drunk and passed out? Nah. Besides, he had to drive her home so he probably wouldn't have more than one beer. Lucky for her.  
  
It bothered her that Nathan hadn't found her all night. He didn't even attempt to talk to her. In fact, she hadn't seen him since he stormed away from her earlier. He didn't have his cell phone on, and he hadn't touched the keg. Haley would know..she was standing by it the whole time.  
  
All she wanted to do was find him and kiss him senseless. That sounded like the perfect plan. She could use a kiss..she hadn't gotten one all night. It wouldn't hurt if all these people left either. She just wanted the whole house to her and Nathan so that nobody else could intrude on them.  
  
Haley felt a tap on her shoulder and instantly knew it was Nathan. She had left him a message on his voice mail a short while before and told him to meet her by the keg. She figured she'd stay there the whole night anyways so it was a pretty safe bet to make him meet her there.  
  
A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck and crashing her lips onto his. He instantly responded, pushing his fingers through the belt loops of her jeans and pulling her closer to him. Typical Nathan gesture.  
  
What was just a kiss turned out to be a heated make out session. Definitely something that wasn't meant for anybody else to see. Haley breathed out heavily and ran her lips across his cheek, whispering into his ear.  
  
"Let's go upstairs."  
  
He nodded quickly as she wrapped her legs around his waist and allowed him to carry her up the stairs. He must have been just as drunk, because it took a good five minutes to get up there without falling.  
  
Haley was about to stop and yell at him because he knew he had to drive her home later but she stopped herself. She should just enjoy herself now because in a few minutes she'd have to stop him and tell him everything. And she knew this was totally the wrong time to do it, she knew she was leading him on so bad only to tell him something awful but if she didn't do it now, would she ever do it? Probably not.  
  
She felt him pin her to the door as his hands snaked underneath the material of her shirt. His lips trailed soft kisses down her neck and she moaned, causing him to push more of her hair off to the side to gain better access.  
  
Opening her eyes just a bit, she looked at her surroundings. She was in what looked like to be Nathan's room. At least she wasn't in some random part of the house...or the bathroom for that matter. The last thing she wanted to do was make out in a disgusting bathroom.  
  
Pulling away from him, she grabbed his collar and pushed him onto the bed, straddling his waist. But he quickly rolled her over on her back as he hovered over her.  
  
She had to tell him. 


	20. Chapter 20

Lets hope this time, it actually works! :b  
  
"Nathan."  
  
He looked up from the drink in his hands, hoping to see Haley standing in front of him, but instead saw Peyton...and Brooke. _Oh joy._  
  
Don't get the wrong idea, Peyton was great. Since their break up they hadn't been extremely close--but then again, they never were. He could always go to her if he was having problems, though. At least that part of their relationship was still genuine.  
  
"What's up, Peyton?" He asked solemnly as he stirred the contents of his drink with his finger. He wasn't in the mood to get wasted. Plus, he had to take Haley home and she'd be so mad if he was too drunk to drive.  
  
Peyton noticed the sad tone of his voice and felt a pang of sorrow for him. Nathan was a good guy, he just didn't really let anybody else know that. "You okay?"  
  
He forced a smile as he leaned his back against the wall. "Yeah, I'm alright." However, he didn't sound too convincing.  
  
"Trouble in Nathan and Haley land?" She joked.  
  
"Something like that."  
  
Peyton nodded and cleared her throat. She then looked over at Brooke who shrugged her shoulders. Why the hell was she following her around like a dog? Wasn't she supposed to be with Lucas? "So um, I just had a quick question." Nathan nodded, allowing Peyton to continue. "Did you by any chance find a bracelet from the last time I was here? It was silver with a heart. Had an engraving on it-"  
  
"Oh yeah, I did. Sorry, I forgot to tell you."  
  
She wanted to yell at him. To berate him for forgetting to tell her about something that was such an important piece of her life. If she didn't get that bracelet back, it would be like she lost a part of her past. And she wasn't willing to let that go. But she just couldn't bring herself to say something. He looked so upset. "It's alright. Where is it?"  
  
"Up in my room." He put his drink down on a nearby table. "Come on."  
  
Peyton followed after him, about ready to ascend the stairs when Brooke tugged her shoulder.  
  
"Peyton, why don't I just go for you? I kinda need to scope out the available rooms if you know what I mean."  
  
She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what that meant. "Alright, fine. But no slut sex until AFTER my bracelet is in my hands. Got it?"  
  
Brooke brought her hand to her forehead in a salute. "Slut's honor." She then turned to Nathan and shuffled him up the stairs. "Come on, Nate. Hustle up."

* * *

"I need to tell you something." Haley mumbled, pulling away quickly. He just continued to place kisses down her neck and onto her collarbone.  
  
Haley closed her eyes and cursed herself for pushing the issue. She knew she had to tell him, she just wished her mind wasn't so adamant about telling him now. _Way to ruin the moment, Genius.  
_  
"Tell me later." He said softly as he began to unbutton her shirt.  
  
She could feel her body temperature start to rise. If she didn't tell him now, she was going to burst into a million little pieces. The guilt was eating her alive. And Haley James wasn't one for keeping secrets from people she loved. To put it plainly, she sucked at it.  
  
"It's really important." By that time, her shirt was removed and thrown across the room. God, why was he making this so hard for her to do? It didn't help that all the vodka she drank earlier had impaired her judgment. It was just making it that much more difficult to keep her attention straight and intent on telling him the truth.  
  
He went back up to her mouth and kissed her in an attempt to quiet her. He finally got her to himself and he wasn't letting her go for any reason whatsoever. And she was willingly doing this with him, which surprised him more than anything. Of course he could taste the alcohol on her lips, but he figured she was well aware of everything that was happening around her. Haley wasn't usually reckless enough to get drunk. She was fine.  
  
Haley couldn't take it anymore. She had enough of the guilt, the weight on her shoulders that wouldn't leave her all day. It was taking a toll on her mental well-being and she didn't know what else to do..other than to tell him. To let him know that she kissed Lucas. But to also let him know that it didn't mean a thing and that she loved him more than he could ever imagine.  
  
It was a mistake. A stupid mistake that she wished she could have taken back but unfortunately, couldn't. Now she had to bear the brunt of it. Quite frankly, she deserved it. She deserved the guilt and all that would come along with Nathan knowing about what she did.  
  
"I-"Haley opened her mouth to speak when the door slammed open and the lights were flicked on. She looked to the side and squinted, trying to see who had ruined her moment of confession. Sadly, too much alcohol was preventing her from doing so.  
  
Nathan stared back at the two people in front of him. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Haley?" He looked over at her and then to the person on top of her. And that sight just made him want to kill somebody. "Lucas?"  
  
"Nathan." Haley breathed out, noticing something terribly wrong with the situation. If Nathan was in the doorway, then who was on top of her? "Oh God." She moaned, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to readjust to the harshness of the bright lights.  
  
Brooke then barged into the room and gasped at the two people in front of her. "Oh my God, Lucas. What the fuck is going on?" Her eyes began to well up with tears. It was like somebody shot a gun through her heart.  
  
All Haley could do was try to stop from throwing up. Her ears were buzzing, not allowing her to hear anything except- "What?!" She screamed, sitting up and holding her head. "Get the hell off of me, Lucas." She pushed him off of her and he fell to the floor with a loud thud.  
  
Nathan's eyes widened as the scene unfolded before him. "You mean you didn't even KNOW you were with Lucas? What in the hell were you thinking, Haley?"  
  
She gulped. Good Lord, she didn't mean for any of this to happen. "Nathan, It's not what you think. I swear."  
  
He shook his head as he tried to blink back tears that were forming in his eyes. "Oh so what, I'm supposed to believe that he tripped and your lips broke his fall? Then somehow or another you wound up in my bedroom and your shirt magically walked off your body?"  
  
"No!" This was like a bad nightmare. She wasn't thinking clearly, Nathan was acting like a raging monster, Brooke looked like she was about to rip Haley's head off, and Lucas was still on the floor. "It wasn't like that! I thought Lucas was you-"  
  
Nathan put his hand over his eyes and walked to the other side of the room. He couldn't look at her or that bastard right now. And to think that he loved her. That he spent hours on end thinking about her and how simply wonderful she was...how well they fit together. Now after all of this, he almost felt foolish for wasting time and letting her occupy his mind.  
  
"I want you both out of my house." He whispered, still facing the wall. "Now!"  
  
His tone caused Brooke to flinch and Haley to cringe, trying desperately to stifle any loud cries that could possibly come out of her mouth. Lucas was already gone...which was probably a good thing considering Nathan would have beaten him up if he had stayed any longer.  
  
"Nathan, please-"Haley tried one last time. Pleading with her eyes to make him hear her out. It wasn't what he thought. It was all a big mistake.  
  
"Just go."  
  
It was at that point that she realized she had made an even bigger mistake than she would have ever imagined. She hurt Nathan a million more times than she thought were possible. All that time she was trying to come clean to him, she was with Lucas. It made her even sicker to her stomach to know that she almost had sex with him. She almost had sex with Lucas.  
  
She bit her bottom lip and grabbed her shirt, pulling it over her head and walking down the stairs. Keeping a low profile wasn't possible since the whole party had turned their attention to the top of the stairs. There were even a few people standing in the hallway, relaying the news of what happened to the people throughout the rest of the house.  
  
They all knew. And the worst part was, what they knew wasn't even the truth. It was a misconstrued situation that was so sick and twisted Haley didn't even want to think about it. She just needed to get out of there.

* * *

Nathan took a deep breath, stormed out of his room, down the stairs, and out to his car without so much as a word to anybody else. He ignored their penetrating glances and questioning stares. Everybody knew better than to say anything. Because if they did, he'd blow up on the spot.  
  
He got into his car and slammed the door shut. "Damn it!" He screamed, pounding his fists on the steering wheel. "Damn it." It was more of a whisper the second time. He didn't know whether to cry or to find Lucas and beat the shit out of him.  
  
He felt a tear slip down his eye and he quickly wiped it away. Nathan Scott didn't cry. Especially not over a girl. He didn't need her. He certainly didn't need her cheating. And he most definitely didn't need her lies.  
  
Suddenly, the passenger side door opened and Brooke slipped into the seat. Nathan didn't even bother to look over. He just stared down at his hands. If he were to look at her, she'd be able to tell he was crying.  
  
They were angry tears. Sure, he felt like a pansy for crying but it was the situation that was doing it. How could she do this to him? How could she be with him and then all of a sudden be with Lucas? He didn't know the answer to that. And that was the reason why he was getting even angrier.  
  
"Nathan-"  
  
"Don't." He said sternly, shaking his head from left to right. "Just don't."  
  
Brooke nodded and bit her lip. Her and Lucas were finally getting to that point. They were reaching the part of their relationship where they were so close to being together. And then he was with Haley. It happened all too quickly. She couldn't help but wonder if Lucas had feelings for Haley all along and was just stringing Brooke along for the ride.  
  
"I'm sorry." It was genuine. She meant it. She was sorry for what happened with Haley, she was sorry for attempting to bring it up. Most of all she was sorry that he had to go through that. Haley didn't deserve him after what she did. "Nathan." He looked over at her tear stricken face. "I really am sorry."  
  
Without warning, he reached over and smashed his lips onto hers. Brooke equally responded, pulling at his collar to bring him closer.  
  
And they both knew it was to get back at the ones they had involuntarily fallen in love with. The one thing they didn't know was it would come back to haunt them in the future. That maybe their assumptions on the situation were distorted. That maybe...their retaliation wasn't necessary.  
  
Brooke pulled him into the back seat of the car. 


	21. Chapter 21

Another day, another chapter. Oh and before I forget, the Tangled Web Awards have Reader's Choice Vote and my story is nominated for it. So if you guys get a chance, go over there and vote for me!! Please! Thanks for all the wonderful feedback. I appreciate every comment I get!

* * *

It was now Sunday. Two days had gone by without a word from either Nathan or Lucas, and Haley was actually thankful for it. As much as she wanted to talk to Nathan, she knew she couldn't bring herself to do it. She betrayed him-even if it wasn't on purpose.  
  
And Lucas. Well, that was a whole different story in itself. Was he drunk too? Did he know what was going on? Was this all just a big plot to get her and Nathan to break up? The thought made her cringe. Lucas had changed so rapidly. And it definitely wasn't for the better.  
  
"Snap out of it, zombie. You look like you're about to maim an innocent bystander."  
  
Haley looked over her shoulder to see Maddie standing in the doorway. "Well then you better watch it. You look innocent enough."  
  
"Ha. Ha." She said sarcastically, shuffling over to Haley's bed and setting down two bags full of groceries.  
  
"What the hell is in there?"  
  
"Comfort food." Maddie dumped the two bags out onto the bed and started sorting through the various foods. "We have cheese curls, nachos, doughnuts, chocolate cake, cheez wiz.."  
  
"And tampons?" Haley asked, holding up a box.  
  
"Do they look edible? I don't think so." She pulled the box out of Haley's hands and stuffed it in her purse. "Those were just something extra I picked up."  
  
"Obviously."  
  
"You know, a thank you would be nice. I didn't have to come over here and hang out with your grumpy ass all day."  
  
Haley groaned and flopped back onto her pillow. "Thanks."  
  
"Say it like you mean it, ho."  
  
She opened her mouth to say something cocky but couldn't manage it. She wasn't in a happy enough mood. "No, now I'm not saying it after the verbal abuse I'm receiving."  
  
Maddie rolled her eyes and started to open the can of cheez wiz. She eyed Haley reaching for a doughnut and slapped her hands. "What are you doing, freak?!"  
  
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to eat a doughnut."  
  
"No, you can't just EAT the doughnut. You have to eat one thing at a time and eat the least important thing first. That way when you really start to get depressed we call in the major reinforcements. That's when your damn doughnuts come in."  
  
"I think that's the stupidest thing that's ever come out of your mouth before. And I've heard a lot of stupid things, but this one takes the cake."  
  
"Speaking of cake.." She took the boxed cake from the middle of the bed and put it onto the floor. "We're saving that for later. When you pour your heart and soul out to me about your stupid guy troubles."  
  
Haley sat up and shot Maddie an icy glare. "Aren't you supposed to be making me feel better? Because you're not doing too good of a job. In fact, you suck at it."  
  
"Just shut up and eat some cheez wiz." She threw the can at Haley who looked at it like it was diseased.  
  
"This stuff is disgusting." She said, throwing it back to her.  
  
"It is NOT. I got asked out on my very first date standing next to a can of cheez wiz. I'd say it's a Godsend."  
  
Maddie had to be the oddest person that Haley knew. And this further proved that she still held the title. "Maddie, it's cheese in a can."  
  
"Well I plan to write a very personal letter to Mr. Kraft to let him know that his canned cheese product helped improve my love life."  
  
"And I'm sure Mr. Kraft will write a letter to the insane asylum asking to admit you as soon as possible."  
  
"You know, Haley." Maddie took some of the cheez wiz and squirted it into her mouth, causing Haley to make a choking noise. She wasn't one for processed cheese products. "One of these days when you get married, instead of throwing rice, I'm going to squirt cheez wiz at you."  
  
"Yeah, and I'm sure the dress will look very becoming then."  
  
"It will! I mean come on, all that white is going to make you look like a heffer. At least the orange will balance you out."  
  
Why didn't she come with a remote control? Preferably one with a mute button. Or at least some duct tape. "Orange isn't my color." She replied glumly.  
  
"Well you just suck." Maddie popped a cheese curl into her mouth and smiled.  
  
"I hope all that processed cheese makes you vomit."  
  
"Well aren't we a happy camper today." That was the wrong thing to say. Obviously she wasn't happy. And that thought was followed by a 'duh' look from Haley. "Ya know, you're one of the very few people I'd have in depth conversations about cheez wiz with."  
  
"If you say the name of that product one more time, I'm going to push your head into that chocolate cake down there and refuse to let you rinse it off after."  
  
"Real nice, buddy." Maddie swiftly pushed the chocolate cake underneath the bed so that it was further away from Haley's grasp.  
  
"Besides, cheez wiz is a stupid name."  
  
Maddie scrunched up her nose. "It reminds me of pee. Like, cheez pee. Why would you call something you eat, wiz? Would you like to wiz on my cheez?"  
  
By this point, Haley had had enough of the cheese talk. "Oh my God, enough about the freaking cheese, alright? It's processed shit in a can. I don't think we should make a full fledged conversation out of it."  
  
Taken back by the tone of her screaming, Maddie stopped for a second and looked at her fuming friend. She held the can out to her slowly. "You really should eat some of this. It'll calm you down."  
  
"Ugh!" Haley pushed herself off of the bed and over to her drawer where she pulled out a bottle of rum.  
  
"Where did you get that?" Maddie shrieked.  
  
"My dad. He didn't drink it so I just figured I would."  
  
"Yeah, um you know I love you." She said, walking over to Haley. "But that bottle of rum is bad. Because in case you haven't realized, stuff like that right there, is what got you into trouble in the first place." Haley lowered the bottle, realizing that her friend was right. "Now maybe you should just go chuck that out a window or something and go back to pigging out on all the crap I brought over. Besides, eating doughnuts is better than getting wasted on liquor. At least the doughnuts taste good."  
  
"Sometimes I'm not so sure."  
  
"About the doughnuts?"  
  
Oh how she just wanted to slap some sense into her. "No, not the doughnuts, idiot. I mean, sometimes it just seems wiser to drink myself into oblivion. At least then I forget about whatever crap is going on in my life."  
  
Haley knew it was horrible that she turned to alcohol to solve her problems. But what else did she have to help her? Maddie certainly didn't help. It wasn't like she could go to her mom with what she was going through. She had nothing.  
  
Maddie sighed and pulled her into a hug. "Haley my love, you have to find other ways to solve your problems. And I think you know that, you just don't know how to go about doing it."  
  
She scoffed, knowing that Maddie was right. Why was it that she always said the best things at the worst times? "Yeah, well thanks for the help." In little to no time, she was going to turn into a raging alcoholic...and most likely checking herself into Alcoholics Anonymous if she kept going at the rate she was.  
  
"I'm trying to help. This isn't exactly easy for me." Maddie walked over and sat on the bed, putting her hands up in defeat. "I mean, I don't know how to make you feel better, Hales. I can try my best but that's never going to totally help you. You need to go talk to Nathan."  
  
"No." Haley said adamantly. "I can't talk to Nathan. I can't even look at him right now."  
  
"Well then I'll talk to him for you."  
  
"You go near him and I'll rip out every hair on your little brown head. I'm not talking to him and neither are you."  
  
"Jesus, Haley. You're acting like HE'S the one who almost fucked Lucas."  
  
She stopped and bit her lip, knowing that she shouldn't have just said what she did. She always had a way of letting things slip out without thinking them through. Now she was going to get bitched out. Great.  
  
Haley just looked at her and walked over to her window. "What I did was wrong, I know that. I'm just not ready to face him yet."  
  
"More the reason to let me do it then."  
  
She pondered the thought for a while, taking in the pros and cons. It wouldn't hurt if Maddie talked to Nathan for her. In fact, it might just clear a few things up. Even though Haley felt like a total wimp for not being able to go to him herself, she couldn't bring herself to talk to him. She'd probably curl up into a ball and die.  
  
"Fine. But just wait a couple days, okay? Give him some time to cool off." It was a foolish thing to say, considering a couple days wasn't nearly enough time to let him cool off. In fact, a couple weeks didn't even seem like enough time. But Maddie was a relentless type of person. If Haley were to tell her no, she'd just go anyways.  
  
"You got it boss."  
  
Haley smiled, grateful that Maddie was there for her. She was the one person who would always stick by her through thick and thin. And at times like these, it was the best thing she could possibly have.  
  
"So, I wonder if Trevor likes cheez wiz." Maddie said loudly, squirting some of the cheese onto her finger.  
  
"Where the hell did that come from?" Trevor and Maddie practically hated each other. Or at least that's what they acted like. Haley remembered how they constantly bickered back and forth.  
  
Maddie shrugged. "I don't know. I've just been thinking about him a lot lately. I kinda miss him I guess."  
  
A soft chuckle filled the air. "I know you still like him. And I also know that he still likes you. Why don't you just ask him out?"  
  
"Hello Major Oblivious, we've tried that already. Remember? We broke up."  
  
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you couldn't try again." Maddie shook her head and waved off her suggestion. "Well then I guess you'll never know."  
  
"Is that supposed to be like the 'How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop' commercial?"  
  
Haley furrowed her brow in confusion. Such a weird child she was. "Um, no. But I did get to 250 one time before I lost count."  
  
"Yeah but then you have to take into account whether they were licks or sucks. And if you suck, how long your intervals of sucking were. Oh, and also the amount of saliva you have in your mouth at the time of consumption. Then you realize that little owl in the commercial was full of sh it. Because I know from personal experience that it SO does not take three licks to get to the tootsie roll center of a God damn tootsie pop."  
  
"You've really thought about this a lot.."  
  
Haley decided to just push what happened to the back of her head and enjoy the time she had with Maddie. She hadn't seen much of her lately, and their lack of hang out time was adding to her depression. But she was here now, and she didn't want to waste it on moping about.  
  
"Only when I have nothing better to do. Which is like...always. I swear I need a life."  
  
Her comment swam around in Haley's mind for a few seconds before she quickly tried to push out the negative side effects it was giving her. "Be happy with the simplicity you have, Maddie. You'll miss it when it's gone."  
  
And there it was again. The damn aftermath of what happened popped back up to the front of her mind. No matter how hard she tried to stash it in the back with all the useless junk, it always had a way of resurfacing when she didn't want it to. Basically, it was a useless attempt.  
  
Maddie nodded, unsure of what to say. "So uh, ready for that cake?" 


	22. Chapter 22

The next week went by excruciatingly slow for Haley. She felt like a complete sleazebag because of what she had done to Nathan, and whom she had done it with. Nothing had happened in terms of sex, but she did hook up with Lucas. That was enough to have the whole school talking and pointing fingers.  
  
She tried to avoid the gazes and rumors, but she just couldn't. So many things were being said that all she wanted to do was run away and hide, never to show her face again. She doubted anybody would miss her if that were what she chose to do.  
  
And Nathan...  
  
Nathan was an emotional mess. He wouldn't speak to anybody, he'd cut basketball practice just to go home and sulk. Nobody ever thought that Nathan Scott would get so torn up over a girl, but it happened...bad. He was falling into a download spiral, and he felt like he couldn't stop himself.  
  
The fact of the matter was, they were both a mess. Yet neither of them had the guts to talk to each other. Nathan because of his pride and emotional instability, and Haley because of her fear of him rejecting her more than he already had. He refused to hear her side of the story...not that it would make the situation any better. The wrong she did wouldn't make it right, even if she did explain exactly what happened.  
  
So, they avoided each other. Haley would take different routes to her classes just so she wouldn't see Nathan in the hallway, and Nathan changed his seating arrangements in every class he had with Haley. Of course that just made the situation a whole lot worse because lack of communication about this mess was 100 times worse than actually talking about what happened and accepting the facts.  
  
And that's exactly what Nathan didn't want to do-accept the facts. He figured he saw what happened, he didn't need to know any more. Even if there was something else involved, he didn't even care to find out what it was.  
  
Besides, he wasn't exactly faultless either. He had done some things that night as well that he wasn't too happy about. The worst part was that he was totally coherent and knew what he was doing...which was what made it that much worse.  
  
Haley could never find out.

* * *

It was Friday night...one week from when the "situation" had occurred. The Ravens were battling it out against Cove City for a second time, but unfortunately, the game wasn't on their side. They were down eighteen points. Why? Well, the answer to that was simple. Nathan was benched.  
  
It started out as a crappy game to begin with because Nathan wasn't up to par, and then just escalated into a straight up doomed game by the end of the first half. He had somehow managed to get himself into a fistfight with a player on the opposite team, causing them both to be benched for the rest of the game. Nathan figured Whitey would eventually give up and let him go in, seeing as how wrecked the game had begun to get. To his surprise, Whitey wasn't going to cave any time soon. It made him just want to throw in the towel and go home. He wasn't in the mood to play anyway.  
  
Twenty-five points later, and the Ravens were sulking back to their locker room. They all knew Tim wouldn't be able to knock down those shots, and Lucas hadn't been showing up for practices at all for the past week. When any of the players missed more than two practices, they were exempt from playing in that week's game. So now the team was down two of their best players. They surely suffered from it.  
  
Nathan trudged out of the locker room, slamming the door shut behind him. It had become a ritual by now, and everyone knew that it was him by the sound of the loud racket. He quickly walked across the court, head down, and made his way to the doors leading out to the parking lot.  
  
"Nathan."  
  
He wasn't going to stop, but the voice didn't sound familiar. If it were somebody like his dad, Tim, or...Haley, he wouldn't have stopped. He turned around quickly to see a short brown haired girl looking up at him. Her face seemed vaguely recognizable from somewhere else and he wracked his brain trying to figure out where he had seen her.  
  
"Can I talk to you for a few minutes?" She asked, looking back at the bleachers from time to time.  
  
"Do I know you?" If this girl was just trying to get some action from him, then she had another thing coming. If she didn't know the current situation he was in, he'd definitely have to inform her. Because Nathan Scott was in no mood for a f uck buddy. The past week had made that blatantly obvious.  
  
"Uh." She looked back at the bleachers again, shifting nervously on her feet. "Not really. I mean, you know a friend of mine but you and I have never really had a full blown conversation."  
  
She seemed nervous, but it wasn't in a flirtatious way. Maybe she really wasn't out to get some. "Okay then.." Nathan furrowed his brow.  
  
Maddie sighed and grabbed hold of his arm, taking him out the doors and into the parking lot. "Look I don't want to beat around the bush, alright? This is about Haley."  
  
He nodded, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I figured."  
  
"Really? How?"  
  
"Well after you looked back at the bleachers for the thousandth time and I saw exactly what spot you were looking at, I kind of knew." Maddie threw him a questioning stare. "She was sitting right there..."  
  
"Oh. Oh right. Yeah, I told her to hide but I guess she decided not to. That's kind of a little too first gradish for me anyways." When he didn't answer her back, she decided that she just needed to come out and say what was to be said. Haley was one of her dearest friends. If this would help her and Nathan get back together, then she was going to try as hard as she could to make it work. "Look Nathan, I know what Haley did was wrong. She knows that. She's pretty much in denial over it. But you really don't know the whole story."  
  
"No, and I don't want to know." He ran his hands through his hair and looked down at the ground. He wasn't in the mood for this tonight. All he wanted to do was go home and sleep. "What I saw explained it all. I don't need anybody else to tell me what happened because I saw it with my own two eyes, Okay? She was with Lucas. Need I say anymore?" Nathan pulled his keys out of his pocket, heading for his car.  
  
"She was drunk, Nathan!" Maddie screamed as she stomped her foot on the ground. This wasn't exactly going according to her plans. She panicked once she realized he wasn't going to stop. "She thought he was you!"  
  
To her relief, he stopped. Then remembered Haley telling him the same thing the night he caught her. "She told you that?"  
  
"Yes. She was upset, drank too much, and thought that Lucas was you. She didn't do it willingly. Especially with Lucas of all people."  
  
Nathan looked back at Maddie, her eyes hopeful and pleading for him to believe her.  
  
"Come on, Nathan. Cut me some slack here. If I have to go over there one more time and pig out on doughnuts I think I'm going to barf."  
  
A smile graced his lips for a few seconds, but was then replaced with his usual look of sadness. "I can't even look at her."  
  
"Okay, that's not what you're supposed to say. You're SUPPOSED to say 'Yes, Maddie. I'll go talk to her right now...then we'll have some hot, passionate make-up sex and forget all of this ever happened.' Now doesn't that sound a lot more promising to you?" She gave him a reassuring smile and motioned for him to say something. His response didn't come. "You really love her, don't you?"  
  
He hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, I did."  
  
"Did?" She questioned.  
  
"Yeah, until all this s hit happened. Now I don't know how I feel about her. Part of me wants to love her the way I did and the other part never wants to talk to her again."  
  
Maddie sighed. "Nate, I hate to put it this way, but think about it. She didn't have sex with Luke. Yeah, she hooked up with him...well actually she thought she was hooking up with you. But once she found out what she was doing, she was miserable. I mean, I could see if she knew she was hooking up and possibly screwing Luke but that's not what went down. And I think you really need to understand that."  
  
"Well, I'm not that innocent either."  
  
"You just need to talk to her-"She stopped herself mid-sentence. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"  
  
"Nothing, it's nothing."  
  
"No, that was definitely something. And if you didn't mean anything by it, then why did you say it?" Her arms were crossed over her chest, her foot roughly tapping the ground.  
  
Blowing out a heavy breath, Nathan raked his hand through his hair and brought his arm down to hang lazily at his side. "I uh, I slept with this girl, Brooke, the night it happened."  
  
"What?!" Her high-pitched shriek made Nathan cringe. "You had sex with some slut because you saw your girlfriend hooking up with your brother? What the hell were you thinking?"  
  
"I don't know! I was confused and pissed and I thought they had sex because they were practically naked on top of each other. I just...I didn't know what to do and that's the only thing I could think of to piss her off." He put his hands over his face. "God, I'm so stupid!"  
  
"Yeah you are." Maddie scoffed. "You know what? I won't say anything. Because if I did, it would just hurt her too much." She shook her head, rummaging through her purse for her keys. Nathan's revelation made her too upset to carry on a conversation with him. "Do what you feel is right." She then walked away, leaving him alone. He was officially a first class moron. 


	23. Chapter 23

Oh my word...I just am so excited to write this chapter because after this one, there are only a few left until the end! And I really don't have anything planned for after, so I may be thinking about a sequel. Not too sure yet.  
  
Anyways, back to the main purpose of this very long author's note. I won a Tangled Web Award! Thank you to Janet and everyone over at TWA. Also thanks to the person who judged Best Plot (the category in which I won). I believe it was Bryana? I could be wrong but if I remember correctly, it is. I'm so grateful, and was really surprised to find out that I had won because I wasn't expecting it. So, thanks very very very much!

* * *

"You're ugly." Haley pulled a blue dress out of her closet and flung it across the room. She was rapidly pulling clothes out of their confinements and trashing them. "You definitely got hit with the ugly stick." A pink t- shirt was thrown into the same pile as the blue dress. "What the hell was I thinking when I bought you?" Two pairs of black shoes were smashed onto the hardwood floor next to her and she growled, walking over to her mirror. "Ugh and you." She pointed to reflection. "You have got to go."  
  
Suddenly, she pulled out her silver hairbrush and smashed it into the mirror, sending pieces of glass flying every which way. "Damn it, I meant me, not the mirror! Stupid Haley. Stupid, stupid, stupid."  
  
That outburst would surely get her into trouble with her parents later. They were out for the weekend...again. Was that any surprise though? It seemed as though they were never home. And when they were, she didn't want them there. It was one of those lose/lose situations.  
  
She sighed and sat down on her floor, back against the wall, and just cried. She wanted to be a new person, and the only way she saw fit to go about doing that was to trash everything she owned and start over again. She didn't like the kind of person she had morphed into. Haley wasn't one to hurt the people that she loved and those who loved her back. Lately though, she seemed to be doing a good job at it.  
  
What she wouldn't give to just go back to the way things were. Everything was so much simpler when Nathan wasn't involved. It was just her and Lucas, and the occasional Maddie. Now all she wanted was to ring Lucas' neck and to be with Nathan again. Too bad her whore tactics took the front seat and screwed her over big time.  
  
Haley put her head in her hands and sighed. Guess she'd have to go out and buy another box of doughnuts. Oh no, another ten pounds added to her hips wouldn't hurt a bit. Note the extreme sarcasm dripping from that statement. Maybe drinking the alcohol wouldn't be so bad. Yeah, she'd get drunk and have a major hangover the next day, but at least she wouldn't look like Shamu after she was done.  
  
A creek in the floorboard caused her to look up, her breath catching in her throat. There he was, standing right in front of her. Was she able to speak? Hell no. If she did she'd probably say something stupid. She was famous for that so she didn't doubt that she'd do it for a second.  
  
"The door was unlocked." He answered simply. The silence in the room was deafening. Nathan shifted uncomfortably and crossed his arms over his chest. "We need to talk."  
  
She nodded before getting up and walking over to where he was standing. Still, she couldn't fight the urge to be intimidated by him. He was so tall and she was so...tiny and pathetic.  
  
"Nathan-"  
  
"Why did you do it?" The question was blunt, straight to the point.  
  
He wanted an answer, and his eyes that were boring into her skin forced her to look down at the ground. Her eyes began to fill with tears as her voice squeaked out in a barely there whisper. "I told you already."  
  
"I want to hear you say it."  
  
She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "I was drunk, and stupid. My judgment was not at its best and I mistook somebody else for you."  
  
"Lucas."  
  
"Yeah. Lucas." Nathan nodded. "I never meant to hurt you, Nate."  
  
He walked past her, going to her window and looking out at the darkness that consumed the sky. It was so depressing. "Did you ever want to tell someone the truth, even though the truth would hurt them so much? Even though you were probably more at fault than the other person who screwed up was? " Haley shook her head, indicating that she agreed to what he was saying. "I'm sorry that I can't do that."  
  
Her eyes once again found the floor. She hated how she could never look someone in the eye when they were trying to tell her something important. "I can." Forcing herself to look up, she found him facing her once again, his back to the window. "I kissed Lucas."  
  
"I know that, Haley." His voice sounded annoyed and tired. He felt like he was getting nowhere with her. "This is what this whole thing is about-"  
  
"No, I mean before..."  
  
"What do you mean, before?" His brow furrowed in confusion, his face taking on an angry expression. "You mean before the party." It came out more as a statement rather than a question.  
  
"During the Romeo and Juliet skit we had to do, he kissed me. I got really mad and we got into this big fight in the janitor's closet and he kissed me again. I kissed him back but it didn't mean anything, Nathan. I swear."  
  
"The hell it didn't. In the freakin' janitor's closet, Haley?" He screamed, causing her to flinch. "So at the party wasn't the first time. And you kissed him back! What the hell is wrong with you?"  
  
Tears were streaming down her face. This wasn't the way she had expected things to go. They weren't supposed to be in this situation right now. "I don't know!" Finally she couldn't hold it in anymore. She began to cry hysterically, furiously wiping at her face in an attempt to clear the tears that had fallen. "I don't know, okay? Things were just so screwed up and I didn't know what to do-"  
  
Before she knew it, she was being pushed up against the wall, Nathan's lips attacking her own. It was as if they couldn't get enough of each other, like they'd been apart for years without seeing one another.  
  
"I hate you so much for this." He whispered, kissing her roughly on the lips and pulling her shirt apart, sending buttons flying every which way. "You don't want him, Haley." She shook her head before he pushed her against the wall again. "Tell me you don't want him." He growled.  
  
"I-"  
  
"Say it." He growled in her ear roughly. When she didn't answer, his voice took on an angrier tone. "God damn it, Haley. Say it!"  
  
Haley looked into his eyes, full of anger and passion all at the same time. She couldn't do this to him. She felt guilty enough to begin with and to go any further would just make her feel even worse. She felt like a slut. "I can't do this."  
  
She pushed him off of her and grabbed her shirt, putting it on quickly. "I'm sorry." It was barely audible, but he heard it. Before he could answer, she ran out of the house. 


	24. Chapter 24

Okay, so I'm thinking after this chapter, there's only going to be about one or two more. Not too sure, but I'm aiming for one. This is just a continuation from the last chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Haley slammed the front door shut behind her as she ran out of the house. She didn't know where she was going, or whom she was going to, but she just needed to get out of there. Being with Nathan was so suffocating to her now. Every time she spoke to him, she felt even guiltier than before. By all means, she wanted to be with him. But she wasn't sure if she could give herself the opportunity to hurt him again, or to take away the pain she had already caused.  
  
It was stupid. She looked ridiculous running away...and out of her own house too. That must have been against some kind of rule. It reminded her of some sort of lame movie...except there was no rain. She looked up at the sky half expecting to see droplets start to fall. Luckily, she saw nothing but darkness. Good, at least cliché-ness wouldn't ruin her moment of ungodly sorrow.  
  
Usually, when she was having a hard time with things and felt the need to wallow in her own self-pity, she'd go to Nathan. Right about now, that sounded like a pretty foolish idea. Nathan was probably still at her house. Either that or he had gone home, not bothering to deal with her. He could have so much better than her. He deserved so much better.  
  
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The urge to throw up was getting stronger, especially with the running/crying combination she had going on. Still, she didn't know why she kept running. It wasn't like she had anywhere to go. Maddie lived too far away to walk. Or well, run. She wasn't that close with anybody else, and yes, Nathan was still not an option. As if those whole two minutes would have made a difference.  
  
A shadow lingered in the distance and she stopped abruptly, squinting her eyes to try and see whom it might be. Great, now she was going to get mugged too. _Go ahead, it's not like it'll make my day any worse. I'm already screwed to begin with.  
_  
And as if someone in the heavens above had heard her say that rain would be cliché, out stepped Lucas. She should have knocked on wood, because right now, this 'movie' was getting cheesier by the second.  
  
"Lucas! What are you doing here?" She didn't know why she was whispering, but it wasn't a sweet whisper. It was more like a 'I'm going to claw your face off like a cat if you come any closer' whisper.  
  
She just didn't understand why he wasn't getting the point. Not to mention it was dark, and late...and the only people out at this time of night were usually horny guys looking for an innocent piece of meat jump. Oh but wait, that described Lucas to a tee. Didn't make it any better, though. It just managed to piss her off more. "Well, what the hell do you want?"  
  
"I needed to talk to you."  
  
Haley clenched her fists at her sides. Damn him. "I have nothing to say to you."  
  
Lucas took a step forward, which made Haley take a step back. The closeness was just not settling well with her. She didn't even want to be in the same town as him let alone in front of him. "We have to talk about what happened."  
  
"No!" She screamed, looking around and then back at him before quieting her voice down. "No. We don't have to talk about anything, okay?"  
  
"Don't be like this."  
  
"What do you mean, don't be like this? Don't you get it, Luke? You ruined everything! And the worst part is, you knew you were doing it the whole time, yet you kept pushing it."  
  
"I didn't mean for things to get like this, Hales. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be you and me. And then he came along and screwed it all up."  
  
"No, Lucas." She said through gritted teeth. "You screwed it all up."  
  
"More like f ucked it all up." They both turned around to see Nathan walking towards them. "Screwed it up seems like such a miniscule word to use for this situation. I'd say f ucked it up pretty much sums up what he did."  
  
"Oh piss off, Nathan. This is between Haley and I."  
  
"See genius, that's where you're wrong." He took a step closer until he was right in front of him. They were both face to face. Dangerously close. "It was never between you and Haley. It was between you and me."  
  
And for once, Lucas didn't know what to say- mainly because, he knew Nathan was right. He wouldn't admit that of course, but he knew it. He had always liked Haley, but when she had gotten together with Nathan, his feelings towards her skyrocketed...partially to protect her from Nathan's future actions, and partially out of jealousy towards their blossoming relationship.  
  
Yet, Nathan had something from Haley that he never would. He had her heart, and her love. And that's what caused more rage to grow inside of Lucas. He knew that he could never have what they shared. That even if Haley and Nathan did break up, there would always be an emptiness inside of her that he could never fill. That no guy for that matter could fill. It was reserved for Nathan. And it killed Lucas inside to know that.  
  
"Yeah well from what I've heard, it was between you and Brooke too. I'm sure Haley doesn't know about that one yet. Maybe you should enlighten her." He responded with a sly grin on his face. This was what he wanted all along. Nathan was finally going to get what he deserved.  
  
"What does he mean, Nathan?" Haley stepped in front of him, her eyes prying for answers.  
  
He felt like a deer caught in headlights. This wasn't how he planned on telling her. She sounded so hurt already and he didn't even explain what had happened yet. He looked over at Lucas, the sly grin still etched onto his face, his arms crossed over his chest. He was laughing in his head, knowing that he was about to hurt Haley worse than he ever could. Nathan felt sick to his stomach.  
  
"Look, Haley. It was stupid. I was upset, and she was there. She saw what happened between you and Lucas and was just as mad. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just..it was a mistake."  
  
She stared at him for a moment, her mouth slightly open, trying to register all that was happening in her head. Without warning, she raised her hand and slapped him clear across the face. He brought his hand up to where she had just made contact with his skin and stared at the ground. He knew he deserved it.  
  
"All of this time." She whispered, tears already starting to fall down her face. "All of this time, you made me feel like I was the bad guy." He didn't answer her. He just stared into her eyes, watching the tears slide down at an even quicker pace. "You slept with her?"  
  
In a perfect world, he would say no. That he didn't sleep with her and that he stopped things before they could have went too far. But this wasn't Utopia. This wasn't a sinless, perfect world, and things never went the way they were planned out to. She tried to push out the fact that the answer would be yes, but she already knew it was true. He didn't even really have to answer the question. In a way, she just wanted to hear him say it. She wanted him to admit what he had done.  
  
He nodded, averting his eyes from her face. "So you put me through all this hell, when you knew I was drunk. You knew I had no control over what I did." He just stared at her, and her voice took on an angrier tone. "You weren't drunk, Nathan!"  
  
"I know that. Things got out of control-"  
  
"No, I don't want to hear it!" She pushed his chest roughly and he stumbled backwards a bit. "You f ucking bastard! I hate you!" She pushed him again, balling her hands into fists and punching him in the chest. "I hate you so much." It came out as a whisper as she sobbed loudly into his chest.  
  
How was it possible to love someone so much and hate them at the same time? And why on earth was she practically hugging him when she wanted to rip his head off? She confused herself when she was upset, and she didn't like it.  
  
Quickly, she forced herself to pull away from him. Looking up at him, a twinge of guilt ran through her, but she quickly dismissed it. "What we had is over. I hope you're happy."  
  
And again, he let her walk away. 


	25. Chapter 25

Alas, my story is completed!!! What first started as a challenge, turned into a wonderful story that I'm so SO sad to see end. But I thank you all for the wonderful feedback for every chapter, and hope that you continue to read my other future works. You guys make my crappy days turn into great ones, so thanks!

* * *

---Three Months Later---  
  
"You ready to go?' Maddie asked, poking her head into Haley's bedroom to survey her current state of evening attire.  
  
Haley turned to face her friend and slumped her back, watching as Maddie flopped onto the bed with a sigh. She turned her attention back to her reflection in the mirror. "I look stupid."  
  
Maddie growled, cupping her hands over her face. "You do not." It came out muffled, because well, she was annoyed and didn't care to take her hands away from her face. "You always say that, anyway. Every year."  
  
"Yeah well that's because every year I DO look stupid. Besides, this color makes me look like a blimp." She smoothed her hands over the long orange colored evening gown and frowned. "I could kill my mother for making me wear it, I swear."  
  
"Well, I think it's pretty. Besides, it could always be worse. Remember last year...Gwen Stratford's olive green piece of crap toga?"  
  
"It wasn't a toga." She replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, but it looked like one. All she needed was one of those wreathy things made out of leaves wrapped around her head and some wings. She could be straight out of one of those Red Bull commercials."  
  
Haley's soft chuckle filled the room, but quickly faded. The small smile on her face was replaced by a look of sadness." I really don't want to go."  
  
"You never want to go!" Maddie lifted herself off of the bed, her silky, blue dress showing wrinkles from the position she was laying in. "Haley, this is important to your parents. You know mine throw this ritzy get- together every year for their firm and your dad could really use the job that my dad's offering him. So just go like you always do, put on a happy face, and try not to spill punch on my shoes like last year, okay? I'm still trying to get the stains out. Although I fear there's no hope for them anymore."  
  
"The things I do for you." She grabbed her purse off of the bed before taking one final look in the mirror. "So, what does this dress say to you? Big orange blimp or radioactive carrot?"  
  
Maddie's eyes rose towards the ceiling. "I was thinking more like slender pumpkin." She nodded, happy with her choice of wording.  
  
"That's good enough for me." She smiled slightly. The past few months produced very little smiles but once in a while, Maddie could get one out of her. It was quite a task to do so, though. "Let's beat this Popsicle stand before my parents force us to ride in the James Station Wagon Of Love."  
  
"Ah yes, the love mobile. That thing is ancient. And ya know what? I believe you were conceived in that car-"  
  
"Enough! No stories of my conception, please!"  
  
"Fine, fine." Maddie quickly walked out of the room with Haley trailing behind her. She quickly shut the light switch off, causing the rest of the hallway to fall into darkness. "Can we talk about mine then? Because I have a few good ones to share..."

* * *

"Well, well will ya look at that? She sure moves in quickly. It's like a chicken hawk stalking its prey." Maddie eyed a tall blonde girl talking to Trevor and immediately vowed to kick her ass later on that night.  
  
"You do realize you just compared a girl to a chicken hawk." The two laughed for a short while, looking around at all the people who had actually decided to show up at the high-class event. "Why don't you just go over and talk to him?"  
  
"Because, Haley. God! If I go over there and talk to him, he'll think I like him again!"  
  
"You do, stupid." She smacked Maddie on the head.  
  
"That was so unnecessary. Now you got me all flustered and sweaty." Haley shrugged. "I don't need pit stains on this dress, Haley. It's not machine washable!"  
  
She scoffed, taking a sip of her punch. "Please, it's not like you're going to wear it again."  
  
"That is so not the point. I paid three hundred dollars for this dress!"  
  
Haley narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Three hundred dollars? That's ridiculous. I could have sworn you just borrowed it from Jamie Sullivan's closet."  
  
"Say what?"  
  
"Oh come on, that dress is so modeled after A Walk To Remember. If I wasn't obsessed with that movie I'd try to tell you otherwise."  
  
"Well, you're a big fat pumpkin!" She watched as a grin started to creep onto Haley's face. "It's not funny you big, fat, pumpkin blimp! I take back my slender pumpkin name for you because you're an obese radioactive carrot lovin' blimp!"  
  
"You're !" She retorted.  
  
"You better watch it or else I'm going to spill punch on your shoes again. And this time, it won't be an accident."  
  
Maddie sobered up at this and crossed her arms over her chest. "Alright, I'm going to see if mom needs any help spooning out caviar to old people with bad breath."  
  
"Have fun." Haley said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh yeah! If I'm lucky maybe I'll get to feed them too. Nothing like a sexy brunette feeding old people caviar. How's that for good porno?"  
  
"When it comes out on video, I'll be first in line to buy it." They both shook hands and parted ways for the time being. Actually, Maddie parted ways. Haley sort of just floundered by the punch bowl, surveying the room once again.  
  
These stupid fancy parties were usually so boring, no matter who was there or how fun they were. Haley wasn't expecting to have a great time, but she didn't expect herself to want to commit suicide due to excessive boredom either.  
  
It was pointless. Every year she'd spend money on a stupid, ugly dress that she'd wear for one night. And she didn't exactly have a choice either. Since her parents were extremely good friends with Maddie's parents, they wouldn't dare give up a social engagement such as this...especially since Maddie's father's law firm was so prestigious. Also put aside the fact that they were suck ups, and by the end of the evening, their noses would be as brown as a hunk of sickeningly sweet chocolate.  
  
Haley rolled her eyes at her thoughts, taking another sip of the bland punch. Just a few more hours and she'd be home in her nice, warm bed. School was finally over, which meant she didn't have to worry about certain people or things and could rest easy at night. It was a comforting thought.  
  
She felt a tap on the shoulder and turned around, seeing her mother with a rather drunken look on her face. "Enjoying the party?"  
  
"Obviously not as much as you." Haley watched as her mother swayed a bit. "Exactly how much did you have to drink?"  
  
"Oh some of this, some of that. Don't worry about it. I have a designated driver." She pointed over to her father who waved back and began grinding with an old woman in her late 80's.  
  
"Yeah because that's definitely working out for you. You better watch it before grandma over there moves in on your territory and they high tail it to Vegas. Wouldn't want that to happen."  
  
"Somebody's not happy." She pinched Haley's cheek rather roughly.  
  
"Ya think?" Haley retorted sarcastically, pushing her mother's hand away before she could grab another hand full of cheek flesh.  
  
"Well I have something that could make you happy!" She pointed to the door and watched as Haley's mouth dropped open.  
  
"What is he doing here?" The bitterness in her voice made her mother cringe. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.  
  
"I'll explain later. Just...." She bit her bottom lip and patted Haley on the shoulders. "Uh, have fun."  
  
"Yeah, fun." Was this really what she needed right now? All of this time she just wanted to forget about him and people just kept trying to push them back together. Sure, some would say fate. Haley would just call it a pain in the ass waste of time.  
  
He walked over to her, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his gray dress pants. "Hey." He was certainly nervous of what she would do. Haley was an unpredictable person at times. And after all they had been through, there was no telling what she would do.  
  
The tone of his voice was timid, scared in almost a way. She definitely took notice in that. However, she wasn't going to let him get to her. "Hi." Her tone was harsh, cold.  
  
"Your mom invited me-"  
  
"Yeah and I have no idea why. It's not like it's her party." She slammed her punch glass onto the table. "You shouldn't have come."  
  
She did have a point there. This party was lame. "You know what? You're right. I shouldn't have. But I did. And you want to know why? Because I miss you, Haley. Alright? I miss you."  
  
"If you missed me so much then why didn't you try to call me for the past three months? Or maybe try to talk to me at school when you weren't with your dumb jock buddies? Oh wait, I know why. Because you're weak, Nathan."  
  
There. It was said. Nathan Scott was weak. For once, he didn't have anything to say back. He knew it was true. He was as weak as they come.  
  
"You're weak for sleeping with Brooke. You're weak for not telling me, and you're just as weak for not trying to get me back. Even though if you tried I'd probably shoot you down every time anyway. But still. It's the thought that counts and you definitely didn't put any thought into it."  
  
He looked down at the ground, hesitating for a moment. "You're right. I am weak."  
  
Did she just hear him right? Nathan Scott admitting he was...weak? Oh, this was a first. She nodded as he stepped closer to her. "I want to start over again."  
  
Haley looked into his eyes. They were sad, desperate, and sincere. There was honesty buried in their core. Yet, she didn't want to give him the chance to hurt her again. "I don't know if I can do that."  
  
"I'm making an attempt to get you back, Haley. Maybe I am weak, but not as weak as you think I am."  
  
Minute after minute, she was unwillingly letting her guard down. She knew in her mind she shouldn't give him the time of day. But in her heart, she was telling herself to let him in. "Do you understand how hard you'll have to work to build up my trust in you again? I mean, seriously Nathan. Why am I even having this conversation with you when you'll wind up hurting me again?"  
  
"Because I love you." He took her hand into his and held it gently. "I made a mistake."  
  
Haley nodded. "I know that. And If I let you off the hook, partially, not totally...you are going to owe me so big. I mean it, Nate. I'm really having a hard time believing that your promises are sincere." His eyes fell and settled onto the ground. Oh, who was she kidding? She was basically miserable for the past three months. She missed him. And although she was still mad beyond words at him, she loved him. "But I'm willing to start over again. If you're willing to stay true to what you say."  
  
Nathan smiled, extending his hand out to her. "So, we're starting over again. Right?" Haley nodded once again. "Well then, I'm Nathan Scott. And you are?"  
  
"Haley James." She took his hand and shook it gently.  
  
They both smiled, Haley a bit uneasy, but willing to take a chance. "Friends?" He asked, his eyes hopeful.  
  
"Friends."  
  
And they both kept their hands interlocked, small smiles placed on their once somber faces. Maybe things weren't totally back to normal, but it was a start.  
  
Friends...for now.  
  
The End. 


End file.
